Both Alike In Dignity
by geekinthepink
Summary: A pair of starcrossed lovers take their life is the theme for William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but when James Potter and Lily Evans find themselves being forced to act out the play, they find that some love stories don't end the way you want them t
1. Chapter 1

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**

**By: geekinthepink**

**Rating: T**

**Prologue**

Love stories are always cliché, and that's not because of any particular reason other than love is cliché. There's always the beginning, which is always rocky and never flawless, there can be hate and sometimes there can be love, but there's never just that intense moment where two people can see each other across the hall and just know that in just a matter of seconds the words 'I love you' will come rushing out and their lips will meet as if sealing the deal.

And then the middle, the middle is the part that's perhaps the least cliché. It can waver between the trials and the tribulations, the breakups and the make ups but the most important part is that love makes it through the middle to pave the way straight to the end. The middle is just a filler; some love stories even skip that part completely because there's no real significance to the middle.

The end. Cursive words written over the last scene of a movie, the ending of a story completely saying a range of things from happily ever after to a simple 'that was that', all love stories contain and ending because people don't really care about love unless they know how it ends, they want to know if love survived all of if it faded away into the woodwork.

In some love stories it's the tragic end, the death of the fair maiden, the loss the handsome prince, which keeps tears in a constant stream and sighs and gasps flowing out freely. Something so unrealistic, something so tragic wears away the hard exterior of the human nature and brings a person to tears about people who are just fictional. People who have never taken a breath, never met each other, never existed.

Whether it is a trick of the pen that's brought these people to life, the reader never really cares, just the simple fact that there's wet, salty pools of tears on their cheeks is enough to deem the love of these people real and true.

However some love stories don't resort to the tears and instead decide to take an easier approach and allow the words 'happily ever after' to grace the last page of the novel in a delicate script. Riding off into the sunset, a kiss, a marriage, a promise, all 'happily ever after's and all things that add to the cliché nature of love stories.

Unfortunately, some stories never seem to manage the cliché of 'happily ever after' favoring the tragic end instead. This is just one of those stories.

**Chapter One: In Fair Verona**

They were doing it again, though that wasn't much of a surprise to anyone. It was rare to see the Head Boy and Girl doing something other than fighting, and normally it involved someone throwing something whether it was an actual object or simply a hex.

"You inconsiderate piece of scum!" Lily Evans cried out in her frustration with her fellow Head as he simply smirked cheekily at her.

"Aw, Evans, is that really what you think of me?" James Potter questioned her, maintaining the cheeky smile as she glowered at him dangerously. They had been going at it like this longer than was humanly possible.

"I don't think you possess a bone in your body that isn't so completely repulsive and conceited." she snapped out.

"I can show you otherwise if you just come out on one date with me." he suggested to her, ignoring the snickering coming from the rest of the common room, which was where this scene had unfolded.

Without even saying a word, Lily grabbed a book off of the table next to her and chucked it at his head easily but unfortunately for her, he ducked and the book crashed to the floor behind him, nearly hitting a few innocent bystanders who were just here to watch the show.

"I'll take that as a yes." James remarked sarcastically with a wide grin on his face.

"Why would I ever go out with some as low and disgusting as you?" she spat as though the words were venom in her mouth.

"Low and disgusting, you must have me confused with Snape." The carefree manner in which his words were said was almost unnerving and perhaps that's what possessed Lily to pick up another book and throw it at the insufferable Head Boy with all of her might. Unfortunately with his Quidditch honed reflexes he dodged it easily and it hit the wall behind him where a few younger years had just vacated.

"Throwing things is no way to solve this pent up sexual frustration." he continued. As far as the annoyed redhead was concerned he was just digging himself a deeper and deeper grave that she was more than happy to throw him in.

"However, throwing things is doing wonders to relieve my stress over having to deal with such a complete prat as you." She returned bitingly, growing more and more exhausted of his petty little banter as the minutes wore on. Feeling other people around her watching the pair with rapt attention she was just growing more and more angered and decided to take it out on the boy in front of her.

"Oh trust me; working with you isn't exactly my slice of pudding either." Which was complete rubbish, even she knew that as she couldn't really remember a day in which he hadn't at least hinted to asking her on a date.

And once again, a book was sent flying at him; however the promptness in which she had grabbed the book and thrown it had shortened its flight, landing itself at his feet.

"Well, what do we have here?" he smirked in that dangerous and yet somehow wickedly charming way of his as he bent down and picked up the book. She had seen the cover of it and a blush quickly rose to her cheeks.

Looking at the table she realized she had been throwing her own collection of books at him and buried under the potions book as well as the transfiguration ones she had already thrown at him she had buried a book she had been reading for her own pleasure.

"Romeo and Juliet? A tale of star-crossed lovers, connected by fate?" James read aloud as a cheeky look over took his features and he looked at the humiliated Head Girl and decided that the worst had not yet come. Turning the page he came upon the beginning of the tragic tale.

"'_Two households, both alike in dignity, _

_In fair Verona, where we lay our scene._

_From ancient grudge break new mutiny,_

_Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean --'"_

"Give it back." She cut him off abruptly, not wanting him to quote another word. It was at this point where Lily had reached the point of her rage where her fists were clenching and her jaw was tightening.

"But I'm just getting to the good part." He told her, pushing her directly to the edge. She whipped out her wand quickly and pointed it straight at him.

"Put the book down and leave me alone, Potter." And how did he react? Did he tremble as her want was directed straight at him, as her words were crisp and she appeared to be calculating her next move wisely? No, he actually laughed.

"All of this over some ridiculous romance in which some stupid saps die for love?" he laughed out cynically.

She made a grab for the book but he kept it well out of her reach. "What, fantasize about this sort of thing?" he asked, waving the book in her face before pulling it back quickly. It was all she could do to allow the tears to break through her wall of ice she had built up.

"You couldn't even begin to understand the meaning of that play." She told him coldly, wand still pointed directly at him. She held her stance, not wavering in the slightest. She couldn't give in to that. She couldn't give in at all, that's what he wanted.

"What's there to understand? They fall in love, they die, the end nothing is accomplished. Bloody waste of paper if you ask me. Honestly, I think this Shakespeare bloke is making fun of supposed 'star-crossed lovers', they don't actually exist, Evans." He tormented her relentlessly.

"You haven't a clue." She told him simply. "Now, hand over my book." When he didn't she repeated herself. Again, he still held firm on to the book and smirked at her as though he too was contemplating something.

Not being able to take it anymore she flung a spell at him this time and he blocked himself with the book, however, her spell was strong enough that it penetrated the pages and connected with him as well.

What Lily hadn't been expecting was for James to reach out and grab on to her to try and save himself from falling, but instead the pair both fell to the ground with nothing but a hardcover edition of Romeo and Juliet to break their fall.

Upon impact with whatever was underneath her, James or the book, she couldn't quite tell at the moment, she blacked out. She hadn't even realized that James has as well, and that her spell had gone horribly wrong when it met with the book.


	2. Chapter 2

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**

**By: geekinthepink**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I claim nothing as my own, except perhaps my iPod.**

**NOTE: As you'll soon see, I've taken out the Shakespearean verse and replaced it with modern day English and the translations aren't exact. In fact, some things will probably be tweaked a little to fit so don't go looking for the exact version of Romeo and Juliet in here.**

**Chapter Two: Act One – Scenes Three to Five and Everything In Between**

Emerald eyes fluttered open and Lily found herself looking at a wall opposite of her that she had never seen before, a bed that she had never slept in and nightclothes that she knew she didn't own. Sitting up slowly, at first she thought that she was in St. Mungo's, having never been there before she didn't know what it looked like but she knew that hospitals weren't as warm as this place seemed to be, nor did hospitals smell like a feast instead of something so utterly sanitary it reeked of hospital.

To the far end of one side of the room there was a set of French doors and she could see a little balcony through the panes of the glass. As she continued to look around she realized she didn't recognize anything in here, not the wooden wardrobe standing in front of her, nor did she know to where the other two doors led to.

A voice in the distance was calling out a name that she couldn't quite make out and she settled back into the pillows and blankets on the bed. Her memory couldn't drag up a single name to place with this room and that simple fact was slowly driving her completely mad.

Without even the slightest warning, a door to her left burst open and two women walked in swiftly, one obviously of a lesser stature than the other.

Lily was too busy looking at their strange attire, the heavy cotton and wool dresses and the strange jewelry coating what she assumed to be the lady of the house's hands and throat, she didn't even notice they seemed to be addressing her.

"Juliet." The woman said curtly in a tone she often heard Professor McGonagall use when reprimanding someone, most often the so-called Marauders.

'_Juliet?'_ her mind questioned with a hint more than just simple curiosity.

"We must talk privately, Nurse aid me with the conversation, if you will. Daughter, I wish to speak to you of –" the elegantly dressed woman cut herself off before continuing again. "What is your opinion of marriage?"

Lily blinked, fearing that she could not do much else. She knew these words, though never before had she understood them so clearly. She had read these words many times, knowing them almost by heart. The aforementioned organ beat painfully in her chest as she inwardly shook away her suspicions. It wasn't possible.

"Juliet!" That bloody name was repeated again and Lily snapped out of her thoughts abruptly. She knew the next line, _'It is an honour that I dream not of'_, but she couldn't say it, the words seemed foolish and she wouldn't play into this game. This must have been a dream, she must be laying in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts and this dream must be coming simply because she landed on her book.

In that case, it was completely different to answer the woman's question because none of this was real, it was a dream and she's just wake up to find everything the same and an essay that she needed to write waiting for her.

"I haven't really given it any thought." she said. Lily was trying her best to match the woman's politeness as she knew that the Capulets were a family of riches and honour and with that came stern politeness that the 1900's had forgotten completely.

"When I was your age, I had nearly given birth to you." Her 'mother' pointed out. Biting back the remark that things were much different in the 1500's when the life expectancy barely reached to a person's forties, Lily remained silent. "Besides, that noble young man Paris seeks to marry you."

"Such a handsome young man, a fine husband he will make." Nurse boasted.

"I will give it some thought." Lily answered with a small smile towards both of the women. And as she knew he would, a serving man knocked on the door before coming in to announce that the feast had begun. The older women took their leave, letting the redheaded girl sit with her thoughts for a while. "Such a strange dream." She sighed aloud to the room.

Surely this was one of those dreams where it was so realistic that it was unnerving, but dreams were never this clear, you could never feel the warmth of the blankets surrounding your body, you could not feel other people's touch on your skin. Lily refused to believe that this was anything other than a dream, until there was some sort of proof otherwise, that was what she was going to coax her unsettled mind into believing.

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It wasn't the bright rays of the sun that had awoken James from his sleep, no, he had been awake for hours he just refused to greet the day just yet. He had done it again, he had started a fight with Lily Evans only to push her deeper into her hatred of him. Wherever he was currently sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep, he was going to stay there.

"He's moping." A male voice announced. James concluded that it was probably Sirius which was actually more incentive to stay in bed and bury himself deep within the blankets.

"He's just had his heart broken." The voice was too considerate to be Sirius, it was probably Remus. James debated why he hadn't made the sandy-haired boy his best friend instead, he was more compassionate and strangely good at guessing issues. Though he wouldn't have gone so far to say that he had gotten his heart broken.

"He's the one that told her that he loved her." The Sirius person said and had James not been so comfortable in pretending to be asleep he would have lashed out, but wait, he never told Lily that he loved her, he had simply asked her out.

"I can't really blame Rosalind, they didn't really know each other that well, had they?" Yes, so this was why Remus wasn't his best friend, the compassion thing was just a façade. Rosalind? Who was Rosalind? As far as he knew he had been arguing with Lily last. None of this made any sense. "We should probably wake him." The Remuslike boy continued.

If it wasn't strange enough that these people were talking about some girl they didn't know and they didn't quite sound like either of his friends, though he had blamed that on his drowsiness, but the fact that they nudged him instead of spraying him with water or jumping on him was what really gave away the peculiarity of it all.

Prying his eyes open he jumped a little when his suspicions were proved. These were not two of his best friends, definitely not. Although they were looking at him just as strangely as his friends would be right now. And this was most certainly not his dormitory, Hospital Wing or St. Mungo's. Oh Merlin, this was not good. Not good at all.

"Get dressed, we have a feast to attend in a short while. You've slept the day away." The person he had thought to be Sirius told him with a smirk that was really uncanny in a way.

The two of them left James behind, wide eyes and shell shocked. First on his list of things to do was kill Lily Evans, second was to find out what spell she used to do this to him. He was sure she had done this on purpose, punishment for embarrassing her like he had. He didn't quite understand what was happening at the moment as nothing was ringing a bell.

He didn't recognize anything or anyone, and from the way that the other two people had been speaking, they knew him, he just didn't know how or why. Whatever had happened was most definitely Evans' fault and he was going to make sure that the second he figured out how to fix all of this, he was going to hurt her. But the important thing right now was … where was he?

Sighing heavily, he abandoned his worried and moved his hand over the bedside table, almost blindly searching for his glasses. The room came into much sharper focus the second they were on and he found that this room was even farther from anything he knew than he had originally guess through random blurs.

Before long, James had managed to place his feet on the cold floor and find himself sitting next to a really strange outfit that appeared to consist of something that looked like a strange torture device disguised as really small and obviously tight pants. They seemed to be really thin too. He was definitely going to skip putting those on.

Picking up a little too large white flowing shirt off of the bed he looked at it with distaste, obviously he was supposed to be going to a costume party, but really, couldn't someone have asked him first? He would have chose something cooler, a pirate or a ghost or something, not whatever this was supposed to be.

After searching the room for a few minutes without finding any substitutes for this ridiculous garb, he put it on slowly as though the fabric was going to burn his skin if they touched. Finding that no burns were resulting he gave up on his fight and moved on to the next article of clothing. Which he soon found to be pants which he had declared loudly to the room were not pants, one because they were too short, and too because they were a little too tight in some important areas.

Moving on, after some tugging and shifting and cursing later, James found himself looking down at a deep olive colored vest and wondered idly what would happen if he completely refused to do this all together as along with the shirt and funny pants he already felt ridiculous.

Oh well, couldn't let Evans get the best of him.

Once the whole outfit, including the boring black shoes that actually looked like they were apart of his school uniform, was on he wanted nothing more than to claw it off his body and crawl back into the warm bed. Just as he was about too, Not Sirius and Not Remus came back into the room.

"Great, you're ready, now we've got a party to get to." Not Sirius, as he had taken to calling him, told him once he had noticed that James had managed to dress himself though it had not been an easy feat.

The bespectacled boy noticed that the other two boys were dressed in the same manner and he figured that the three of them must have been pulling a Three Musketeers sort of thing where they all dressed alike.

"Right then, lead the way." he told them. It wasn't as though he really knew the way anyways so he let these people do it as obviously he didn't belong here and they did. Evans was really going to get it; this was just completely and utterly wrong. And to think, he, James Potter, was dressed like a fool.

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The hall was already busy with chatting women in lovely gowns and men all wearing the same hideously ridiculous outfit. '_Not much creativity in costumes_' James thought infuriately from his side of the ballroom that he had decided to place himself in.

He decided to people watch as there was nothing else he could really do, he wasn't familiar with these dances and the girls weren't really catching his fancy. There appeared to be a much different atmosphere here than there was at any of the parties he had ever attended, there was almost a sense of politeness in the air, for a lack of a better description.

Everyone seemed to know exactly their place, how to hold themselves, how to speak. Well, almost everyone. In his quick scan of the room he thought for a second he had seen a very familiar head of red hair but after telling himself that the thought was ridiculous he continued his scanning, until he fell upon her again.

Her back was turned so he couldn't see who she was, but his curiosity was peaked, that much was easy to see. However, it was not just her hair color that was captivating him, it was the unsure way that she was holding herself, it was like she was trying to play a part in a play she had not been chosen for.

"Who is she?" he questioned the man standing next to him.

"I'm afraid I do not know, sir." The man, who appeared to be a servant, answered politely.

James eyed him for a moment, finding this whole thing to be strange beyond comprehension. He just can't look away from the red headed girl across the room; even just from the back he can tell that she was a beautiful girl. Her gown fit her body well and despite it not showing as much skin as he was used to seeing, he was drawn to her.

He could see a sparkling gem in her deep red colored hair and all thoughts of this girl being similar to Evans were thrown out of the window, the delicate stature and almost naivety of this girl didn't match the fiery demeanor that he saw from his fellow Head just about every day.

Had he been so quick to confess love, he would have done it right then. While it appeared that for the most part, this girl was unlike anyone he had met before, there were some things about her that reminded him of Lily Evans, like the way that he could tell that she was playing with her hands, or tugging on her hair or even the slight shuffling of her feet. It was uncanny to say the very least.

'_Stupid,'_ he reprimanded himself, realizing that he was still standing in the corner when the company of the girl was now leaving. _'Just go talk to her, the worst that can happen is that you'll right the spell and never see her again.'_

She had remained in the same spot she had been when talking to whomever it had been, staring at a painting on the wall opposite of her. In a stance that James assumed that people always must take when observing art, she held her arms behind her, though still playing with her fingers.

Slyly, he stepped behind her and gently touched her hand with his own in what he assumed to be a flirtatious sort of a way, it had worked before. In surprise, the lovely redhead turned around and gasped as she spotted who was behind her, James however, was absolutely livid.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing in my dream?" she questioned him abruptly the second she had been able to get her mouth to close from it's unladylike lowered jaw form. Without waiting for an answer she closed her eyes tightly. "Wake up Lily, it's just a bad nightmare, just wake up and you'll be in the Hospital Wing and you can go back to hexing Potter within an inch of his life."

"I like to think I fare better than that." he told her in a way that only proceeded cause her to open her eyes just to look at him coldly.

"How did you get here?" Lily demanded desperately as her hopes of this being a dream started to dwindle away into nothing but just pointless hopes that were proving to be of no use at all.

"You hexed me, remember?" For someone so smart, she lost a lot of tact when it came to things outside of recalling things from textbooks. Besides, it was starting to worry James that even she didn't know how they had gotten here.

"Yes, but that doesn't explain how both you and I are now stuck inside of Romeo and Juliet!" she hissed in a low whisper.

"What?" he questioned almost shrilly. Lily was going to point this out for obvious teasing and blackmail reasons but she quickly decided that this wasn't the time or obviously the place for that.

"The people here, they think I'm Juliet Capulet. I don't know how to explain it, I just woke up and it was like the play was acting itself out. I'm still trying to tell myself that it's a dream right now so please excuse me if I start to hyperventilate at all." She finished her statements quickly before taking a large calming breath.

"I knew you fantasized about this." Even though they were now stuck inside of one of the most tragic love stories of all time, he still managed to get a jab in about her and followed it with a smirk.

"Potter, do you not understand? If we don't get out of here, something terrible will happen." She told him harshly.

"Not necessarily, doesn't Juliet kill herself; you simply have the choice not to do it." But as soon as his thoughtful words left his mouth he found Lily looking at him strangely, her emerald eyes wide.

"You don't change Shakespeare." she hissed vehemently.

Throwing his hands up in surrender, James scanned the room again with a cheeky smile on his lips. "So which one of these poor saps is your Romeo?"

She shook her head, "I don't know actually, he's supposed to come over here soon and…" she broke off suddenly. "No!" she said in a quiet, disbelieving voice.

"What?" he questioned her as though she had just sprouted another head from her shoulder.

"Romeo comes over and touches Juliet hand before they spout into a slew of metaphors of love… But… You. You touched my hand." Her eyes were still wide and she had a slightly crazed look about her.

Shaking his head, he tried to shrug it off. "Purely coincidence." Of course, if would be just their awful luck if she had a point. Romeo did come over and touch her hand, and James has as well, but he wasn't about to begin asking her for a kiss.

Lily however, was jumping straight to getting answers. She turned to the person closest to her quickly, who happened to be a well dressed woman chatting with others just like her. She didn't seem to be very pleased with the tapping on the shoulder that the redhead had given her.

"Terribly sorry ma'am, but could you please tell me this young man's name?" she questioned quickly, as though it were a life and death matter, which in fact, it was. Well, at least it seemed like it to her, she couldn't possibly be the Juliet to James Potter's Romeo.

"This young man?" she questioned airily, gesturing to James politely. Without even waiting for so much as a nod from either of the other two she continued on. "I do believe he's a Montague, oh, what's that one's name? Roberto? Richard? Ah yes, Romeo I believe it is." She turned back to her friends not even noticing that the newly named Romeo and his Juliet had both paled considerably.

"We're going to die, and it's not going to be from a tragic love wrought ending either, it's going to be because I'm going to kill you for this and chances are you'll bring me down with you." Lily spat out scathingly.


	3. Chapter 3

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**

**By: geekinthepink**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I claim nothing as my own, except perhaps my iPod.**

**Chapter Three – The Scene Shakespeare Forgot Including Scene V**

It was a desperate and perhaps futile attempt to avoid each other that rewrote a scene in the monumental play of ultimate love and fate as neither Romeo nor Juliet ever wanted to admit, even under pain of death, that they knew each other in any sort of way. It was a way of wondering whether or not Juliet would have committed suicide for Paris as the redheaded girl sunk back into the shadows and the forgotten chair sitting cold in the corner.

In this era's unladylike manner she leaned against the armrest, her elbow resting on top of it with her chin cradled in her palm just watching the crowd of people. She was supposed to be in love right now, sprouting out sonnets and poetry about pilgrims, love, and kisses. Of course, bloody James Potter had once again ruined that for her and she was brooding and pouting in the only way that she knew how to cope with this.

He, however, seemed to get over the lost fairytale love with the greatest of ease. He had already sunken back into what he was familiar with, casual conversation with numerous girls and the attention of two boys that reminded her of James's lackeys back home. Of course, these were probably Benvolio and Mercutio which added to Lily's brooding, depressed demeanor.

"And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss." She muttered vehemently under her breath as she watched her dimension traveling companion send one of Shakespeare's female creations into a fit of unladylike giggles. She wasn't jealous, oh no, that wasn't it at all, but he had been the one to rob her of her fairytale, her solitude in the common room and it wasn't fair that he didn't seem to be fazed at all. That's what was driving her mad.

James didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he was rewriting one of the greatest works of literature of all time as he spun the bubbling girl around in a move he was copying off of everyone else. It was unnecessary to say that dancing in this era and the 1970's varied drastically and Lily desperately hoped that he was grasping at straws. She hoped that he was suffering in some way, even if it was as feeble as dancing patterns. Actually, she hoped that he hated this, that he would forever spite her and even her offspring simply because of all of the pain and suffering that he was going through.

Unfortunately, the git was grinning at the girl cheekily and Lily flushed in anger. He couldn't even have the common decency to hate the Shakespearean tragedy that he was stuck in.

"My lady," a friendly courtier woman curtsied at her feet. "It despairs me so to see you look so offended." Lily sent her a look of disapproval and quickly pasted a small smile to her pale pink lips. The change in dimension certainly hadn't changed her complexion and she came to the realization that the flush spread quickly across her almost transparent skin, showing her troubles to the entire court.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Apparently the casual dismissal of her time and dimension didn't fit because it caused the courtier to look at her even more peculiarly. "All is well, ma'am. No cause for distress." She corrected hurriedly.

With another low curtsy the woman left just as abruptly as she had came and Lily pursed her lips together, sitting up straight in the chair. If a simple courtier could see how absolutely disturbed she was by this whole situation, then she would have to take matters into her own hands. Even if that meant waltzing up to a dragon, who in this case had horrible eye sight and hair that was even worse.

Said dragon still was content spinning the bubbling girl around and took no notice of the redhead's arrival. She was forced to clear her throat loudly to be heard over the music and the infernal racket of the giggles. James stopped abruptly mid-spin.

"Yes?" he questioned shortly.

"Can I cut in?" she questioned easily as though this was a common occurrence and his touch wouldn't burn her skin.

James looked at the girl who he had been occupying his time with and gave her a small smile before nodding at Lily. He released his hold on the other girl's hand before taking Lily's and tugging her towards him so quickly she thought the inertia would knock him flat on his back. Correction, she had hoped that the inertia would knock him flat on his back.

She was surprised to find that his touch didn't burn but instead sent repulsive chills down her spine that she suppressed, but just barely. She looked up at the hazel eyes just out of her own line of eyesight to find that he was looking at her with the same look that he used on Sirius Black when he couldn't quite understand the nonsense that spilled out of the boy's mouth.

"What?" she questioned innocently.

He shook his head. "Nothing really, simply curious."

"I am too," she admitted, "I don't know what could have possibly sent us here; it's not any magic that I know."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Evans." He told her abruptly as she was just about to continue her previous stream of consciousness.

"Oh," Her tone gave away the lack of shock that should have been present in her voice.

"Were you jealous?" he questioned with a smirk. Lily allowed a scowl to rise on her features.

"Only you would be so absolutely disgusting to believe that the reason why I came over here, the reason why I'm actually dancing with you, is because I'm jealous." She laughed far too loudly for the Elizabethans and Shakespeareans alike.

"Well then, why did you?" he retorted, clearly believing that he had a point.

"As sorry as I am to admit it, you and I are both in this situation together and as much as I would like to leave you behind I don't think Professor Dumbledore would appreciate that. Besides, there's too much work called for in conditioning a new Head Boy and the homework I'm going to have after this whole ordeal is finished is going to be atrocious." Despite the fact that his hand still rested on her waist while his other held her own in perfect form, she dismissed him with her words as though she had just crossed to the other side of the ballroom.

"Or you just wanted to dance with me." The familiar smirk made its way back to his lips.

"Excuse me while I go retch." She said coldly as she made to turn her back on him. She didn't get far before James' hands were once again at her body, pulling her back into the frame of the dance.

"That was uncalled for," Lily sincerely hoped he was speaking of his own words and not her actions, "And you have a point. We are stuck in this together and it would be too much work conditioning a replacement for either of us. Are we calling a truce then, Evans?"

Lily appeared to be chewing the thought over before responding, letting the music and James's hands spin her around the dance floor in elegant patterns. She idly wondered how he had gotten so good at ballroom dancing. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

"I suppose we have to, don't we?" The question was rhetorical and he treated it as such, refusing to answer her.

"Do you have any ideas of how to fix this?" he questioned her instead.

She shook her head sadly. "No, like I said, I don't have any idea how this all could have happened. And I highly doubt that playing out this act the way that its written is going to help either of us. Actually, it would probably be pertinent if we didn't act it out."

"I thought you said that you weren't supposed to change Shakespeare?" Now he was just teasing her.

"If you would prefer to poison yourself at the end of this whole thing, be my guest, James."

He stopped moving abruptly, causing her to stumble over his feet but his grip caught her before she could fall ungracefully to the ground. "What was that for?" she questioned in a harsh whisper, trying not to draw any attention to them as they were still a Capulet and a Montague.

"You just called me James." He was nearly grinning and Lily retaliated with a frown.

"Don't look at me like that." She chided. "We agreed on a truce, besides, it would seem strange for me to call you Potter while stuck in this play. Actually, I should probably just stick to calling you Romeo." It was finally her turn to tease him and his reaction was exactly what she had hoped it would be. He scowled, obviously associating the name with the merciless teasing of love-struck boys in their own time period.

"Then it would only make sense for me to call you my fair Juliet, would it not?" The teasing continued in banter and the thought that it was hardly fair for him to be so quick to recover his wit crossed Lily's mind.

She ignored him forcibly. "What are we going to do about all of this?"

"I honestly don't know. Can't we just ignore the whole Romeo and Juliet story? Forget the whole thing and just go on as though your character and mine had never met?" It seemed like a simple enough idea, which is why it obviously wouldn't work.

"If we're going to figure out a way to get home we have to work together and with you as a Montague and I as a Capulet, that's impossible. We'd be sneaking around anyway." Though there would be no confessions of love or sonnets of the similarities between Lily and the sun. Once again she inwardly cursed James Potter for ruining her fairytale. She cursed him and his ruddy hair, poor eyesight, broomstick and funny Shakespearean trousers. A smile couldn't even be hidden at that.

"Why are you grinning?" He actually sounded worried, as though some diabolical plan was being cooked up by his dancing partner.

"Your trousers." She pointed out with a small laugh. It was a pleasure to see his ears flush red as a pink covered his cheeks as though someone had attacked him with blusher.

"Nobody finds out about this." He warned firmly. A sigh of frustration at the humiliation of this all passed his lips before he remembered the original topic before Lily was so rudely distracted. "If we need to sneak around, so be it. We need to get home; I don't know how much more I can take of this." Lily missed the quick glance he made at the aforementioned trousers.

She looked a little wary at the idea of sneaking around. Things were so much simpler when you could just read about them and not have to worry about having to live them out. However, the balcony scene is perhaps the most famous of all so in all reality, they have all of the routes to sneaking around that they needed. It was almost like seeing the future.

James chuckled at her expression while the song finished and slowly the crowds dispersed leaving the two of them standing in dancing stance off to the side. "You're afraid of breaking the rules. In a play. A fictional play, at that."

"I am not a Marauder," she spat out the word like it had poisoned her tongue. "Breaking the rules is not an every day occurrence for me. It doesn't mean that I won't do it; I'm simply saying that it's a little nerve wracking. And these are a lot of rules that we would be breaking."

"I've done worse." He said simply. She glared at him and didn't dare question what he meant by that, it was better just not to know.

Coming to the realization that the people had parted and were spending the time between songs chatting with their friends, Lily quickly broke apart from James and moved out into the hall where they had been before. He followed her easily catching the drift; it would not be wise for the two of them to be caught together now.

"We can't risk talking anymore at this party; we've spent too much time together to cause suspicion as is." Lily pointed out softly, not to capture the attention of any of the nearby partygoers though it appeared to be almost in vain as they kept looking over at the pair every so often.

"When else will we be able to talk then?" he seemed genuinely curious. He felt that there was no other time than now because every second he stayed here the more he missed the comforts of his own bed in the Gryffindor tower.

"Haven't you read the play?" she looked at him pointedly. "The balcony scene, just be outside after the party, you'll find me on top of the balcony."

"Don't expect me to speak of how you are as beautiful as the sun then."

"I would surely hex you if you did." Her words were sharp. For the third time that evening she was reminded of how horribly James Potter has destroyed her fantasy of a star-crossed love.

The attention of those around them continued to fall on them and with the superstitions of the time radiating on high, the word "hex" flashed in neon lights. Lily took a step closer to James so that their conversation would not be overheard. "I do not expect you to follow this play word for word; I would actually rather you not. However, it's not a bad place to look for ideas. Romeo and Juliet snuck around to see each other and if it worked in the play, it'll work for you and me." She was close enough to him now that the warmth from his body reached her own skin and just as she was about to take a step back she heard the familiar sound of someone clearing their throat impatiently.

"Juliet," Nurse began as the redheaded girl and her partner leapt apart. "Your mother wishes to speak with you." Lily knew she should have seen this coming and nodded before taking her leave down the hall and away from James and Nurse. The Nurse eyed him curiously and James grinned at her in his cheeky sort of well. "Well… Bye." He told her before turning back into the ballroom where the crowd was slowly fading.

Not-Remus found James quickly and informed him that it was time for them to take their leave as well. The pondering thoughts of how absolutely absurd this whole thing was hit James with the same familiarity as a book having been thrown at the hand of Miss Lily Evans. Neither one of them knew how to correct this terrible mistake and they both knew that they couldn't act this play out without falling to a terrible fate. James was so caught up with his own thoughts that he hadn't realized that despite the additional scene they had accidentally added, the play was still running the same course.


	4. Chapter 4

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**

**By: geekinthepink**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: Mine nothing. Sorry. **

**NOTE: Spark notes are love. Many thanks to the people at Barnes & Noble for Spark notes otherwise I think the conversation between James and Mercutio would have fallen a little flat.**

**Chapter Four – Act Two, Scenes One Through Three: Slaughtering the Balcony Scene**

It was the prospect of going home that propelled Lily into waiting restlessly on the bed of her new suite. She didn't know what she was supposed to be looking for to alert her to James's arrival, surely he wouldn't climb the trellis to get to her in the manner that the original Romeo had. Actually, he would probably shout obscenities at her and demand that Lily climb down the trellis to meet up with his lazy arse.

Playing the part of Juliet down to the wistful glances she was throwing out the window, she cursed James Potter for the third time that day as she realized that no beautiful metaphors would be arising on the pages of the books the play was printed in. Lily's stomach dropped. The play! She hadn't even realized what sort of consequences they would face for meddling with the play. Surely everything was being rewritten and distorted horribly out of the way that things were meant to be. She cradled her head in her hands, her elbows digging painfully into the stone balcony. This was James's fault, and she was personally going to make sure that he drank every last drop of the foul poison in the story.

While Lily was cursing every bone in the boy's body, James was too busy chuckling aloud in a maniacal sort of way as he looked at the ivy covered wall that he was expected to scale. He had finally managed to get Not-Sirius and Not-Remus away from him long enough to get to this point, but the actual idea of scaling the wall had caused a screw to come loose in his mental capacity.

It was a very large wall covered in nothing but slippery ivy. This Romeo bloke must have been mad to scale this over a ruddy girl. He shook his head dismissively; no, this would not do at all. He would waltz right back into the ballroom, ask someone where to find Juliet and avoid the wall altogether. It was just his unfortunate luck that a voice, that sounded eerily like his mum and Lily combined, reminded him that he was labeled a Montague and thus could not waltz into the ballroom asking for the whereabouts of someone who is supposed to be his enemy.

Laughing with dry sobs filled with woeful feelings towards himself, James gripped tightly on to the ivy and pulled the weight of his body up into it. He flung his body over the wall with such a force that he toppled ungracefully to the ground.

"Bloody Quidditch reflexes." He muttered angrily as his words filled with sarcasm.

Getting up and brushing the layer of dirt that now coated his unusual getup he found himself in an orchard. With an exasperated sigh, he wondered wistfully what he had ever done to deserve this. With a long list of apologizes, beginning with one to his mother for not picking up his toys at the age of three and forcibly skipping all apologies made to those of the Slytherin sort, he made his way towards the direction of the balcony.

Unfortunately, a pair of voices stopped him as they were calling out his name. Rather, they were calling out Romeo's name. Ah, Not-Sirius and Not-Remus had found him at last -- took them long enough. He stood silently still and the pair seemed to feel that he simply did not want to be found.

Not-Sirius's laughter filled the air before he began mocking this poor Romeo bloke's love for Rosaline. Instead of rising to the teasing, James responded with a roll of his eyes and a low chuckle. Turning his back on the noise he found the redhead in question just above him, looking more like a part in this play that anyone had right to.

Since finding out that the pretty stranger in the ballroom was Lily Evans herself, the word pretty had been stripped out of his vocabulary, but now it seemed to be the only adjective to describe her in this moment. No, he took that back, she was repulsively beautiful. The moonlight glinted off the auburn strands of her hair and her pale skin sparkled next to the extravagant gown that flowed over her body. This time period suited the hot-headed girl, in looks alone.

Lily's sigh brought him out of his thoughts but she spoke before he had the chance to alert her to his presence. "Why did it have to be Potter? Of all people…" Her words were soft and he almost missed them, but as they reached his ears, his heart noticeably sank. The previous thoughts of her attractiveness were banished quickly.

"Evans!" he called out, pulling her out of her thoughts rudely.

"Keep your voice down!" She demanded in a pointed whisper, surprised at his sudden appearance. "They'll kill you if they find you here and as much as it would make this whole thing easier on me, like I said, I don't have time to condition a new Head Boy!"

"They could not kill me; I have one thing that they do not have." He informed her with the same vile cheekiness that made him who he was. "Magic." He retorted with a grin.

She thought quickly to the wand that she had hidden in the wardrobe of Juliet's room, terrified out of her wits that someone may find it and there would be dozens of new problems unleashed. She sighed at his arrogance and sheer childishness. "Yes, well, don't tempt them." She warned quickly. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time. We need to figure out something to do and I cannot think of a single spell that would transport dimensions."

"Well, what spell got us here in the first place?" he questioned.

"I don't remember." She admitted softly, hating herself for having gotten so enraged in the first place. "I can't remember what spells I cast on you. Can you remember what you cast on me?"

"No. I cast a lot of spells in a day; it would be hard to pick out the one that I used on you from the one I used on Snivellus." James admitted.

She glared at the demeaning name that he had given one of their fellow classmates but chose to ponder their options for a moment. "What we need is someone skilled in spells or potions or something…"

James was about to make a snide remark about how she had pointed out the obvious when the same voice that had called Lily off earlier in the day broke through their conversation. "I'm coming!" Lily called back through the open French doors. "I don't know what we're supposed to do, in the next scene you're supposed to go meet with Friar Lawrence, he's not as straight laced as he may seem, see if you can get any information out of him."

"And you? What are you going to do?" he questioned, finding it unfair that this was all going to fall onto him.

Nurse's voice broke through again and Lily hurriedly sent another "I'm coming!" in her direction. "I'm going to be looking around here and seeing if I can find any information." She ducked back into the room and James stood staring at the panes of glass as though he could somehow cause them to shatter and embed themselves into Lily's skin. This was not fair. It was not his fault this happened, why should he have to go ask this Friar person for help?

She rushed back to the balcony in a flutter of vibrant hair and swirling skirts. "Nine o'clock tomorrow morning -- don't be late." She paused for a moment as though considering her next words. "Good luck, James." And then she was gone. It took a moment before James followed her example.

----------------------------------------

Lily found it hard to get any sleep that night, knowing that time was running out. All Shakespearean plays had five acts signifying the chart of a plot. They had already passed the introduction and were now mounting the rising action. This was the part that was supposed to be a gradual build up of everything but it seemed to whip past her. Everything would be downhill from here and that was what caused her body to fight off sleep. Every now and then she would hustle over to the wardrobe that she had hidden her wand in and look at its spell casting history. But every time, she would find the same answers… nothing. It seemed that in traveling through this dimension, all history of spells had been erased.

A stubborn urge to cry poked relentlessly at her eyes and soon she was batting the tears from her cheeks. It wasn't that she was sad about this whole ordeal, she angry. She was angry at herself, at James Potter, at her wand and even at Mr. William Shakespeare. She didn't want to die because they couldn't find a way to reverse this, but she couldn't see the answers being in any book. Hopefully James would be able to get some answers. She closed her eyes, willing sleep to come and eventually, it did.

When the sunlight filtered through the window in with an eerie sense of déjà vu, James found himself just finishing the act of tying his ridiculous shoes. He hadn't been able to sleep much either so when the reddish hues of sunlight peeked over the horizon, he pulled himself away from his bed easily.

With the hideous trousers and shirt on he found himself feeling more and more out of place every moment. Even with his wand stowed away in a hidden pocket, he still felt that things were horribly out of place. Now wasn't the time for identity crises as he had to go speak with some Friar before nine o'clock this morning when he was supposed to report to the she-devil.

On his way out, he managed to get the Friar's address from one of the poor serving maids who appeared to be startled by the simple question. Perhaps it was the fact that James nearly harassed her for the answers that caused her breath to hitch up in her throat. However, in a move that he was sure that not even this Romeo guy could have perfected, he smiled at the poor girl before thanking her and taking his leave.

The route wasn't long, but it was filled with thoughts of James's own stupidity. Last night he had made a terrible mistake in his own thoughts and he wasn't quite sure what to do about it. It was probably the time period causing him to think like that, causing him to believe that for one moment, Lily Evans could have actually appeared to be beautiful. No! He had gotten it! It was the spell. She had cast some love spell on him to think such horrible and disgusting thoughts and trap them both in this wretched love story. Sure, there were obvious flaws with that theory, but it was the best one he had.

With the sunlight barely illuminating the earth, James found himself standing in front of an older man who was fiddling around with several weeds, herbs and flowers. Filling up a basket full of them, he began rattling off about the properties of each of them. He was speaking just above a whisper, but loud enough that James heard and mused that this man was a complete nutter.

It wasn't soon after James walked in that the Friar appeared to be shaken out of his thoughts and instead rounded on the newcomer. It was quite frightening and reminded James of Professor Slughorn, sans the excess weight.

"You have not slept." Friar Lawrence accused. James silently cursed this period for its lack of mirrors, as well as his own lack of care this morning, the bags under his eyes were probably pronounced. "Is it Rosaline? Did you spend the night in her bed?" The question caused a deep russet color to brighten James's cheeks and he side stepped into the shadows to hide the offending marks. This Romeo person seriously needed to keep his hormones in check.

"Of course I didn't." he defended himself easily. "I actually I have small problem." When the Friar didn't say anything, James took that as his cue to continue. "You see, something terrible has happened." The word 'spell' would probably not be appreciated by this Catholic priest so he tried to find some other way to word it. "Something strange has transported me and someone else to this dimension and we would like to go home."

"How much ale have you had, Romeo?" The Friar seemed concerned and James sighed heavily.

"None. Is there any potion that you can make that will allow me and someone else to travel to the year 1977?" So much for softening the blow.

"You mention this someone else often. Who are they?" The Friar's question was innocent and justified but it only served to upset James more. He didn't have time for this. He looked down at his wrist where his watch should have been to see nothing but his own skin. He had forgotten; he had loaned his watch to Sirius the day that they had been transported here. That most certainly was Lily's fault.

"Li… Juliet." He corrected himself swiftly. "Juliet Capulet." This was still strange and he was certain that he would never get used to it, and hopefully, he wouldn't have to.

"Capulet?" Friar Lawrence's shock was not unnoticed. "A Capulet and a Montague?" This seemed to be something to ponder about but James sighed once more, wishing the older man would just hand over a potion and he could go home.

"Sir, I don't mean to be pushy but I really need to know. Is there any potion that will transport Juliet and I to 1977?"

"Running away together, are we?" Smarmy, perverted Friar. How could he not realize that James just wanted to go home? That he was only bringing Lily out of obligation. "Young love is impossibly fickle…" He was cut off shortly.

"I do not think that you understand." James nearly snapped, he was fighting to control his temper and this man was seriously pushing buttons that would set the aggravated seventeen year old off.

As if he hadn't heard a word that passed James's mouth, the Friar continued on. "But this Juliet lass, she loves you, does she not? That's better than the brick wall that was Rosaline. Though, there wasn't much intelligence with her at all, she appeared to be rather… thick."

"Do you have the potion or not?" James was getting really tired of hearing about Romeo's distorted love life. He didn't care who this bloody Rosaline was as technically, she didn't exist. None of these people existed.

The Friar seemed to be skeptical, however, he nodded curtly. "Yes, yes, come back later and I shall have something for the both of you." It didn't even register to James that it seemed a little sudden for a potion of that magnitude to be ready in just a day; he was too elated at the thought of going home. With a smile and a quick thanks, he made his way back into the streets hoping that it was not yet nine o'clock.

Friar Lawrence watched as young Romeo Montague left with a new burst of joy. He knew what needed to be done; he must bring together Romeo and Juliet to end the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. It seemed to make perfect sense; he must marry the couple and force the families to unite over the union.

----------------------------------------

"What do you think happened to him?" Mercutio, or as James had taken to call him, Not-Sirius, questioned the boy opposite him.

"I do not know," Benvolio, also known as Not-Remus, admitted. "A servant has informed me that he did not return home."

"It's that wench Rosaline, she had gotten him so caught up in being in love with her that she has convinced him to warm her bed." Mercutio informed his friend with malice. Benvolio frowned at the language, but could not deny the subtle hint of facts.

"Does it not seem strange to you that a Capulet, Tybalt, would challenge him to a duel?" Benvolio questioned thoughtfully.

"It is too late. Romeo is already dead, struck in the heart by Cupid's arrow." Mercutio was pleased with his own pun but grew somber with his own thought. "I do not even know whether Romeo is man enough to take on Tybalt."

"Don't be ridiculous." The more sympathetic of the two announced. "Romeo is as much of a man as you or I."

"But Tybalt… He is a swordsman, perfectly proper and composed in a style that is not matched by any other … And yet, he is also vain and far too worried about the latest fashions. I do despise him, I cannot lie about that."

James spotted the pair just in front of him and hoped that he would not have to face the temper of Lily Evans if these people made him late. He would never admit it, even under pain of death, but he was terrified of her when she was angry. Some of the spells she threw were absolutely vile and it took weeks for those boils to finally fade.

"Ah!" Mercutio called to him. "Fresh from Rosaline's love, let us look. Laura was nothing more than a kitchen maid. Dido's attire was lacking a certain grace. Cleopatra was nothing more than a gypsy. Helen and Hero were sluts and harlots… You are skilled at giving us the slip, Romeo." He teased relentlessly, reminding James instantly why this boy reminded him so much of Sirius.

"What do you mean?" James questioned innocently.

"You deserted us, abandoned… Can you not understand what I'm saying?" Mercutio continued.

"Terribly sorry, mate. I had some things I had to do." Benvolio and Mercutio treated James words as though he was speaking in a different language, and it was almost as if her were. Words such as mate and the easy dismissal of a problem as large as not taking the proper time to bid "adieu", were severely frowned upon.

"Was it something so important that you forgot to flex your buttocks?" The words were vulgar, even for a teenage boy from the 1970's.

"What?" James demanded.

"A curtsy, sir." Mercutio was still mocking him.

"Um… well, you see. There's a reasonable explanation for that." He just hadn't thought of it yet.

"I am the pink flower—the master of courtesy and manners." Mercutio said and James realized that this boy, like his own best mate, was completely off his rocker.

"The pink flower…?"

"Right."

"Well then, certain parts of me are decorated in flowers." Matching madness with madness. Besides, who could resist an innuendo?

"Oh, witty friend, this joke has worn out your … pump. The skin is all worn out, the joke is all you have left."

"This is ridiculous." James complained.

"Aren't you going to break this up, Benvolio? I am losing a battle of wits with our dear Romeo."

"Ah, so I have won?" James grinned cheekily at the win with the game he hadn't even known he was playing.

"I am done. You have too much hidden up your sleeve. It is a good chase."

"You are only good for the jokes." In times like this, it was easy to forget that this boy was not actually Sirius, and the same mockery would not work the same. Though, neither Mercutio nor Benvolio seemed to think that the words were odd coming from Romeo's mouth.

"I would bite you for that." Was James the only one who thought that was weird in any way?

"No, you goose, don't bite me." He protested.

"Your joke is bitter."

"Isn't it perfect for a goose then?"

"And once more, you jest. Though I admit, all of the joking is better than whining about love. Now you are the Romeo that we all know and love, you are not looking for a hole to hide your toy in no longer."

"Mercutio, stop." Benvolio warned in such a good impression of Remus that James had to smile.

"But I am not done." Mercutio complained.

"You ramble, dear friend, you are quite done." Benvolio continued.

James drew his attention away from the two as footsteps sounded as Nurse entered, flanked by some boy. She seemed to be ordering the young boy about so James figured that he must have been a servant, he was certainly playing the part of a house-elf.

"My fan please." She demanded of the boy as the sun was now beginning its climb into the sky and the rays were hitting the earth heavily.

"Yes, please give it to her for it is much more beautiful than her face." Mercutio obviously had not finished with his banter and James could see that Benvolio was seemingly embarrassed.

"Get out of here! Who do you think you are?" Once she was finished rounding out her anger on Mercutio she returned back to the task at hand. "Do any of you know where I could find young Romeo?"

"You've found him." James told her.

"If you are, in fact, the Romeo that I am looking for, I wish to have a conference with you."

"Romeo," Mercutio interrupted. "Are you coming to your father's for lunch?" he questioned, beginning off in that direction.

"I'll be there later." James dismissed the pair. With each of them sending him a curious and displeased look, they finally did leave. A sigh of relief passed James's lips, it was tiring trying to keep up with the banter of Not-Sirius, he was a match of wits and it reminded him too much of his own friends. If possible, he missed them more now.

"Sir, if I may have a word. My young mistress sent me with a message for you but I cannot disclose its contents until you promise me that your intentions with her are not a trick. She is young, sir, and I couldn't bear to see her so distressed on your account."

"Tell your "young mistress" that I say hello." He could help the subtle amount of teasing. "I promise you –" he was cut off rudely.

"You're a good man." Nurse told him. "And I'll tell her that too. That will surely make her happy."

"What?" James was thoroughly confused now. "What are you going to tell her, exactly?"

"Why that you're proposing, of course." She said it with such a smile and such a casual grace that James paled considerably and for a moment, felt that he had completely forgotten how to breathe.

"No, don't tell her that. Just tell her to meet me at Friar Lawrence's this afternoon." Breathing was still a little difficult. Why would this absurd woman believe that he would be proposing. He told the woman to tell Lily 'hello', not 'Let's get married'.

"This afternoon?" she clarified.

"Yes, this afternoon. Tell her that everything is all worked out." If possible, the seedy old woman grinned even larger at this news.

"Oh wait! I had almost forgotten. There is a nobleman, sir. One named Paris who wished to make Juliet his wife. Juliet, of course, despises the poor man. Sometimes I tease her by telling her that Paris is more handsome than you are, which causes her to pale to a white more white than a sheet." James had to admit that this must be true, she was probably trying to keep the bile down from thinking that either one of them were attractive.

"Nurse, just tell her. This afternoon at Friar Lawrence's." James was getting impatient, this was the third time this morning that people had just rambled on when there were more important things at hand. He was beginning to think that they just liked hearing themselves talk.

The Nurse and her serving boy left with polite nods and curtsies, leaving James with nothing to do except catch up with Not-Sirius and Not-Remus at the Montague home.


	5. Chapter 5

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**

**By: geekinthepink**

**Rating: T**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.  
****NOTE: I realized when I was looking my last chapter over that I forgot to put what the little asterisks meant.  
****_Pump_ : Shakespearean slang for penis. Vile and disgusting term. Also means shoe.  
****_Toy_ : Double entendre for penis.  
****Now that you know two Shakespearian terms for penis, it makes the whole situation that more awkward and weird.  
****Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I'm glad that you all don't think that I'm completely bonkers for trying to throw poor Lily and James into Shakespeare's greatest romantic tragedy. **

**Chapter Five: Act Two – Scenes Five And Six-ish  
****(Also known as "Where Everyone Goes a Little Mad")**

Lily, as apposed to her dimension traveling companion, was too busy fretting to allow herself any time for things such as lunch. She had already swept through the Capulet home and found not even a dust coated volume of spells or potions that could help at all.

"I sent that woman out at nine o'clock." She complained to Juliet's bedroom that she had holed herself up in. "Oh, she is so slow! Now it's noon and she's still not back. She cannot possibly still be speaking with that git as his vocabulary is not large enough to last for three hours. Perhaps if the woman wasn't so large she would move faster!" She was getting impatient to know what James had found out, if anything. She was even sinking down to the level of calling Nurse names. She hated feeling so helpless and as though she had nothing to do. With no books or professors to lean back on for support, she was like a girl trying to gain her footing on a balance beam.

The Nurse chose that moment; the moment that Lily thought she would plummet off the metaphorical balance beam, to enter the room with Peter, the serving boy, still at her side.

"Finally!" Lily exclaimed, rushing to the woman. "What did he say? Did he find anything out?" Her questions were quick and rushed. "Please, Nurse, may just you and I speak?" She eyed the younger boy warily, fearing that perhaps he would spread the gossip of whatever things that Nurse could possibly have to tell her. Words like hexes and spells were the last thing that Lily needed to be questioned about right now.

Nurse dismissed Peter from their company and Lily took a moment to survey the older woman's face. She did not seem to be pleased at the news; but naturally, whatever James had to say wouldn't make sense to her.

"What is the news?" Lily pestered the poor woman impatiently.

"Leave me, child. I am tired. I have been bustling about all morning for you; give me a moment to rest. My bones ache." Her complaints did nothing to ease Lily's nerves. Despite the mirrored scene in the play, surely the news from James would be different than a marriage proposal and the uncertainty was making the jests of the Nurse unbearable.

"Please. What did he have to say?" The redhead pried politely, hoping to coax it out of the woman who had now taken it upon herself to flop down in one of the lovely embroidered chairs next to the window. It was eerie, this was the same window that just the night before she and James had slaughtered the famous "Balcony Scene".

"Can you not wait a moment? I am out of breath." And it was obvious now that the plump woman was working hard at catching her breath, something that surely hadn't been a necessity a moment before. She was a great tease, worse than any of Potter or his bum buddies. Yes, that's right, bum buddies. Who came up with the idea of the name "The Marauders" anyway? It was ridiculous and rather childish.

Using Juliet's original wit, Lily knew she had the perfect retort. "How can you be out of breath when you have enough breath to tell me that you are out of breath? Nurse, the news, please. It's very important and is a matter of life and death!" She knew that she appeared to be hysterical but the reality of her words were so shocking that she feared that she would begin to hyperventilate if she didn't find out soon.

"You have made a foolish choice." Nurse announced and Lily panicked even more so. Would they not be able to go home? Was going home what the older woman had alluded to as a foolish choice? What could they do now? Just when she was ready to track down James Potter and hex him into a bloody pulp for doing this to her, the Nurse opened her mouth again.

"Romeo? I'll admit, he is more handsome than any other man…" She didn't hear what the Nurse said next as she was too busy trying to control her gag reflexes. "…He's not the most polite man in the world…" Amen, sister. "… But he does care for you." Wait, rewind… What? "Do what you will, Juliet. Have you had lunch?"

"No, I have not." She admitted truthfully. "You have not told me what I wanted to know. What exactly did he say? Did he not give you any peculiar news? Any instructions? Anything?" Lily pleaded for more information.

"Oh, I ache so. My feet and my back sear with pain." Lily knew she was going to have to rub the woman's back and the idea of it was rather disturbing. Couldn't Shakespeare have written that Juliet had gotten her nurse a cool cloth or something? With an irritated sigh, she quickly rubbed her hand over the woman's large back.

"Please, Nurse. What did Romeo say?" She questioned once more.

"Your love said," Lily resisted the urge to vomit once more. "Like such an honorable, noble, courteous, selfless, handsome gentleman." The bile was pressing against Lily's throat and she was getting sick from the whole thing. Perhaps the information wasn't that important, she was sure she could just avoid James and not die and just stay in Shakespeare's time. "Oh! Where is your mother?"

Nurse was a cruel woman, and Lily couldn't take it anymore. She was going to have one of those fits, the fits that she normally saved for the Head Boy. "Who bloody cares where my mother is? What did Romeo say?" She snapped.

"You are impatient! You're being ridiculous Juliet, is this any way to retrieve information from your poor nurse? Is this any way to treat my aching body after the errands I have run for you? From now on, do these things yourself." Nurse was a drama queen.

"I am sorry. What did he say?" She tried the polite act once more.

"Can you make confession today?" Nurse asked, and though Lily hadn't asked for permission, the text said that Juliet could go, so with a nod, Lily agreed as well. "Then hurry and get over to Friar Lawrence. All of the details have been taken care of. You will find your love there, waiting for you." Such a detestable smirk coated the older woman's lips and Lily resisted the urge to sneer at the familiarity of it. And honestly, people needed to stop referring to James as her love or someone was going to find large pustules in painful places.

"Wish me luck." She murmured, hurrying out of the room and praying that James had found a way home.

----------------------------------------

James felt more uncomfortable now, in the few moments sitting with the Friar, than he had in his entire life. They sat upon a bench, waiting for Lily to arrive and James was tapping his feet impatiently. He was bent over at the waist, allowing his elbows to rest upon his knees so the tapping sent his entire body into jolts up and down. Friar Lawrence seemed to be annoyed by this action, but held his tongue. Every now and then he would do one of those annoying things where he cleared his voice and James would sigh.

"I do believe that the heavens will smile down upon this." Friar Lawrence said. James reiterated the fact to himself that this man was off his rocker. Why in Merlin's name would the heavens care if he and Lily returned to their own time period and dimension?

"Is everything set?" James questioned, making sure that nothing could go wrong.

"Yes, yes, of course." The man dismissed the question easily and they returned to the pattern of foot tapping, throat clearing and elaborate sighs. Finally, and with much relief, the door opened, and Lily walked in. James had never been more relieved to see her in his entire life that the same disgusting thoughts of how well this time period suited her returned.

"Hello, sir." Lily greeted Friar Lawrence, once she had made her way up to the two men.

"You cannot imagine how happy I am about this." James confessed. He was growing tired of the proper speech, odd lackeys and more importantly, the uncomfortable and un-masculine trousers.

"I think I can imagine it perfectly." Lily agreed, hardly noticing that it was probably the first and the last time that she would ever agree on something with James. Once they got back to school, she planned on denying that she ever worked in cooperation with him, let alone that she danced with him.

"Come with me and we'll do this quickly. I fear that I cannot leave you be until this is all said and done and you are united in marriage." The Friar's words shot through the air like glass and both Lily and James froze in their spots.

"Marriage?" Lily snapped out in yet another fit. "Is this what you arranged? Got sick of me telling you that I wouldn't date you so you decided 'Hey, why not take advantage of this and trick poor Lily into marriage?' That's ridiculously low, even for you." She turned on James, who had gone as pale as a ghost.

He shook his head feverishly. "No, I distinctly asked him if he could make a potion that would take us back to our time period." The denial of the action would surely fall on Lily's deaf ears; however, as he knew better than anyone that once she got on a rampage she wouldn't stop.

"He informed me that you two were running away together." Friar Lawrence interjected much to the dismay of the two teens. James was flabbergasted and Lily was thoroughly disgusted.

"I'm sure it just sounded that way," James jumped in quickly. "I said that you and I needed to get to 1977 as soon as possible." He informed her.

"Where does marriage come in to this equation, Potter?" She couldn't seem to stop snapping, nor could she seem to catch her breath. Panic coursed through her veins like venom that was slowly killing her off.

Dismayed at the fact that they were returning to the calls of their surnames, James sighed in frustration that sent his hands running through his hair in habit. Lily glared at him as she hated it when he did that. Actually, that's probably one of the reasons why he had never stopped, it was another thing that got on Lily's nerves. Also, it made him look handsomely windswept and that won over the ladies.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed. "Don't waste your time yelling at me about something that I have no idea about when this man," he rudely thrust his index finger at Friar Lawrence who was watching the pair with the utmost confusion. "Is the one that decided that I had asked for you and me to be married."

That seemed to do the trick as Lily rounded on the older, more filled out, man. "Who gave you the idea that I would ever want to be married to this complete git?" She questioned sharply. The poor man looked at the redheaded girl as though she might strike him down dead right there.

"You are a Capulet, my dear. And he is a Montague. By uniting the two of you in marriage, perhaps this horrible feud will come to an end and all will be well." He told her with a tone that admitted that he had put a lot of thought into all of this. "It sincerely seemed as though you two were in love, the way that he spoke of you was in a tone full of caring and concern."

Emerald eyes narrowed at the man and her breathing was coming out in puffs, a sure sign that her anger was bubbling viciously beneath the exterior. "I do not wish to be married to him," she admitted sternly. "Not now, not tomorrow, not ever." She clarified, in case there were any questions.

Once more, James's heart dropped to the depths of his stomach and he turned his gaze away from the fighting pair and gazed at the atrocious shoes shielding his feet. They really weren't that bad once you got used to them, the second he got home he knew he would avoid anything that ever looked like them, but for now, they were okay.

"I am sorry." Friar Lawrence told them both and James looked back at the man and nodded.

"The potion," James reminded him. "Is it even possible?" Now that he had managed to think clearly once more, the important questions were being delivered.

"Oh, I do not know." Friar Lawrence admitted easily and Lily was debating which hex to use on this man first. There were so many that could do justice, she'd have to ask Potter which ones were the most painful though. Looking over at the aforementioned classmate she was a little confused to see that his demeanor seemed to be a little subdued. It was unlike him to keep quiet but she supposed she had just spoken enough for the both of them.

"You don't know?" James continued with a disappointed sigh.

"Well, I suppose that I could try." He seemed to think that perhaps these two were a little of their own rockers, trying to travel to a time that did not yet exist. Actually, traveling to any time at all was peculiar. His knowledge of plants was used to create medications, and sometimes a poison or two. Though, he supposed, some witchcraft could be applied. That was what these two were trying to do, wasn't it? Witchcraft. Looking between the two, he debated the whole ordeal.

"We'd be willing to help you." Lily told him. "Perhaps we can come up with something using our knowledge from school and your knowledge of these plants."

Friar Lawrence brought his hand up to his chin and rubbed it as people often did when debating something like this. Perhaps, not this exactly, but something that was monumental and dangerous. He was not the stereotypical Catholic priest, but he knew better than to meddle in the ways of witchcraft. But these two appeared to know what they were talking about, and how bad could it possibly be?

There were bigger things at hand right now than meddling in a bit of witchcraft, what with the feud between the families of the boy and girl in front of him, as well as the plague. Perhaps the three of them working in this manner could change young Miss Capulet's mind about marriage to Romeo, thus bringing an end to the feud.

"Alright, but we must do so in secret." He said in a whisper. Lily quickly nodded and she could see that James was doing the same beside her.

"Sir, we have no time to waste." She told the friar and it was his turn to nod.

"Let us get started then." He said, hurrying about, examining his own collection of plants, trying to recall the properties of each and what could come from them.

It was nearly an hour later that the three had decided what would be the best selection of weeds, flowers and herbs to create a potion to return Lily and James home. Having found a few scraps of blank parchment and a beat up quill under the mess that was Friar Lawrence's desk, Lily and James were trying to recall everything they had learned in nearly seven years of potions classes that would make dimension traveling work. Wand work had been quickly tossed out of the realm of possibilities as it was too dangerous. With potions, they had the chance to reverse it as they would know where they went wrong, with wands there was too much guesswork.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was a bay leaf that finished that spell off?" Lily questioned James, hitting herself over the head for not remembering what sealed the potion that they had used for transportation. Sure they had transported themselves from one side of Hogsmeade to another, but if they blew it up a little, couldn't it work over dimensions?

"I'm positive. Bay leaves are used for protection as well as for locking in locations." James reminded her and Lily rewarded him with a nod. Yes, that much she remembered. She wrote "bay leaf" down on the list that she was keeping for the ingredients, while James searched through the little pile that they had going of herbs. He stopped abruptly and chuckled disdainfully.

"Why are you laughing like that?" she questioned with worry coating her voice like a thick paste.

"It's not here." He told her with a small hint of panic rising in his voice.

"James, we're only on borrowed time right now!" In the panic of the moment, the return to his first name went completely unnoticed. "I don't know how long we can keep this extended scene going along. We're not doing anything that Shakespeare has written so there's no guideline anymore." She told him in a whisper as she looked over at the Friar who was feverishly flipping through a thick volume on plants. He was trying desperately to find more plants that would be of use as Lily and James racked their memory.

"Who says that we can't just keep going on this way?" James met her whisper with one of his own, leaning in a little closer to where she was seated from him across a small table.

"Just because we're not following Shakespeare's writing anymore, doesn't mean that everyone else has stopped. We've pulled Friar Lawrence out of what was written by being here, but the Capulets and the Montagues haven't stopped anything." She reminded him, realizing that he had indeed moved closer, but she didn't pull back.

"Okay, just relax." He reached over and set his hand on top of hers in what he hoped was a comforting gesture and he was pleased to find that she didn't yank her hand away. Lily actually looked down at his hand on top of hers and was disgusted to find that, like the time they had danced together, her skin began to tingle. It was an irritatingly nice feeling and she hated herself for hoping that it wouldn't stop.

"Relax?" she questioned. "And how do you expect me to do that?" Her voice was low and faintly resembled a whisper but it seemed rude to speak any louder with James hovering so closely.

"We can go get or something, there has to be bay leaves around here somewhere. We already have to substitute things like cockroaches and other potions ingredients, so if worst comes to worst we can find a substitute for that too." He seemed so calm and relaxed over this whole thing and Lily didn't know whether or not she should admire him or hate him for it.

She took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay, yes, that's fine. We'll just look for some and then see if we can find a substitute if needed. There's just one problem with that plan, we still don't have anything worked out on paper so one of us is going to need to stay here." She told him.

"You are leaving?" Friar Lawrence questioned, presenting them both with a page in the book that he found some information.

"We need bay leaves and you don't seem to have any in your stocks." James informed the man.

"Hmm…" The older man mused thoughtfully. "Perchance there is some in the garden at the end of the street. I will go and fetch some so you may continue working on whatever it is that you need to get figured out. Additionally, you will find this plant to be most useful in your potion." He added, running his hand over the yellowed page of the book.

Lily smiled at him and nodded. "Thank you, we'll keep trying to figure this out." She watched as the Shakespearean creation left in the dead of night to retrieve the leaves for them. Once he had left the room and she heard the click of the door she pulled her gaze back to the book but a weight on her hand pulled her attention to that instead.

James's hand still rested on top of her own, even as he had now returned to the other books strewn about the table with their pages opened to random plants, some of which she had never heard of before. Following her gaze from his hand, up his cotton covered arm, she found herself looking at a James Potter that she had never really noticed before. He was leaning over the book with his cheek resting in his palm, looking like the picture perfect student. It was odd not to see him sending a note flying over to his friends or a laugh emitting from his lips.

Without a laugh to pass his lips, it appeared they became the unfortunate victim of his teeth as he bit at his lower lip in thought, trying to piece together this large puzzle of information. Every so often, he would take his chin out of his palm and run his hand through his hair, causing her to purse her lips into a thin line. He would alternate the hair-ruffling with taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

It was rather odd that he would never move his other hand from its resting place on top of hers through all of this. The thought pulled her gaze away from his now glass covered hazel eyes to his pale hand. While her hand still remained a stark white in contrast, his hand was lacking the tan that someone who enjoyed being outdoors would have. It wasn't that James didn't enjoy the outdoors; it just seemed that his skin refused to darken more than a few shades.

The veins and creases of his skin were bizarrely captivating and she found herself acting before thoughts could process in her head and she gently pulled her hand out from underneath his, but did not return it to the sides of the book where it had previously been. Instead, she took his hand and flipped it over so that it was palm up. The skin on that side was equally as pale but was littered with the lines that gave Divination some point. Bringing her other hand to trace every line with her index finger, she grew even more captivated with the details of his skin. She felt herself trace a small raised bump which she found to be a small scar near his thumb.

Looking up from his hand, she found that his gaze was held on her, curiosity apparent. She retracted her hands from his own as a blush made its way to her cheeks. He still didn't stop looking at her even when she picked up the book that Friar Lawrence had left for them.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, burying her attention within the pages, seeing the faded print, but not absorbing a word. It was very hard to pay attention to the properties of plants when you just realized that you were harboring a secret attraction to someone who you were supposed to despise.

James shook his head, even though Lily was refusing to meet his eyes. He reached across the table and pulled the book out of her grasp and she simply picked another one up before he chuckled lightly and pulled that one out of her grasp too. He was still oddly close to her and the pounding of her heart was becoming painful.

She knew that he was going to kiss her, he was moving himself closer to her and she leaned as far back in her chair as she could, grabbing another book as though she was going to use it as a shield against his kisses. "I'm sorry." She repeated.

He only nodded, not saying another word.


	6. Chapter 6

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**

**By: geekinthepink**

**Rating: T**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.**

**Thank you again for your lovely reviews! I love you all so much for sticking with my insane idea to suck poor Lily and James into this Shakespearean tragedy. Also, the last chapter was my favorite chapter too, well, until now.**

**Act Two: Scene Six-ish… Still.**

**(Also known as: "On Borrowed Time")**

The space between the two time-travelers, rather dimension travelers, was incredibly forced and Lily found that her brain no longer wanted to work. She couldn't concentrate on what significance the veins on ivy had when her thoughts were currently being occupied by the simplicities that were James Potter.

Simply put, she hated him.

Not just because he was a prat, a prankster, a waste of talent… really the list could continue like this forever. She hated him above all because he was forcing her to change her mind. Long ago she had decided that this boy, well actually, young man, was the bane of her existence. She had decided that the moment he first asked her to Hogsmeade that she would never fall to his charms, or lack thereof. She hated him because she couldn't hate him, as bizarre and twisted that sounded.

Peeking out over the yellowed parchment of the text she could see the candlelight flickering off of the lenses of his glasses as he appeared to be lost in thought himself. She couldn't tell if he was actually absorbed in the text or if he too was thinking of other things.

The complexities of this situation, of finding themselves trapped in this strange world, had changed something in her opinion of Potter, of James. She couldn't even refer to him by his surname without correcting herself now.

Lily found that she had never pulled her attention back to the forgotten text and instead was still looking at the boy across from her. He was captivating, a fact that made her clench her jaw in frustration. He didn't deserve to be so entrancing. He wasn't overly attractive, his pride often stifled conversations, he was by far the most egotistical person she had ever met, and yet, she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

He must have felt her gaze upon him because he caught her off guard as his muddy, hazel eyes met her own.

"You're staring at me again." He informed her simply, obviously still a little upset with whatever game she was playing.

"I know," she admitted. The words "I'm sorry" formed on her tongue but he must have sensed him because he cut her off quickly.

"Don't even say it. I don't want to hear another apology." He paused, drawing his attention to the plants shown as crude drawings in the books. "Just … find a way for us to get back to Hogwarts and we'll never bring this up again."

He hadn't meant to sound so cold. His pride was suffering, to say the very least.

Just when he had thought that Lily Evans might be warming up to him, she isolated herself as far back in her chair as she could manage, crushing whatever hope he had of the almost-kiss. To be honest, he should have been used to her rejection, it was just… He didn't really know what it was.

James didn't even see her nod before turning back to the brittle books.

For a few moments nothing but the rustle of papers and the scratch of a quill could be heard. The silence was deafening and it caused James to feel even worse. He shouldn't have been so cold to her, they were in a pretty traumatic situation right now, and perhaps she was just acting this way out of some sort of stress or something. It was the most plausible explanation he had.

"I am sorry." Lily confessed quickly, quietly. "I don't know what came over me."

"Lily, stop it." He ordered her in his Head Boy tone, however, with a sigh he quickly softened. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. We're both dealing with something out of the ordinary right now and it's straining both of us." Only, he didn't want to believe his own words. He didn't want it to be true. He had waited so long for her to warm up to him that it was only fair that she had wanted that almost-kiss as much as he had.

"I wasn't apologizing for my actions." She amended, though hesitantly.

James looked at her curiously, his heart fluttering in an un-masculine way. He blamed the trousers, the tight unnatural beasts that they were. He wanted her to say something like "I'm sorry that I never said yes to you when you asked me to Hogsmeade" or "I'm sorry that I cursed you that one time so that your broomstick was glued to your trousers" or even "I love you, James. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that before". Any of the above would have been perfect.

"What were you apologizing for, then?" he prodded.

She looked at him for a moment and he briefly believed that she was just going to start staring at him again. Unfortunately for him, she shook her head, causing all hopes of getting one of his dream answers to fade.

"Never mind, it's not important." Lily felt that she was regressing through her childhood right now. No longer did she feel like the composed seventeen year old that she had been two days ago, but she was now one of those vile third years with a fetish for the Head Boy.

Of course, James had never progressed past the third year type, so it wasn't too much of a stretch for him to frown at her. "Obviously it was something pretty important if Lily Evans was considering apologizing again to James Potter." He enunciated their names as a small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth and she scowled at him.

"I wasn't going to say a thing to you." She harrumphed childishly, turning the page of the volume she was currently poring over. Lily had turned the page so violently that James was certain that it might have ripped a little.

"Why do you insist on doing this?" He questioned her in such an exasperated tone that he actually felt exhausted. She was really quite tiring. James decided to make a mental note: Steer clear of redheads; tempers and stubbornness do not equal a good time.

"Why do you insist on being such a thorn in my side?" she retorted, not looking past the muted ink. She was irritated, mainly with herself, but James was proving to be the perfect way to vent out all of her emotions right now.

"I could ask you the very same question!" He set the book down on the table with a loud thunk. "One minute I think that you could actually be warming up to me and then the next it's as though we never left school!"

"Nothing should have changed, James!" She admitted. "Neither one of us should have settled into this idea that we could actually get along."

"Why?" His tone still ranged on that of one who was exceedingly frustrated with everything, but his question was sincere.

"When we go back to school it's going to be like we never left. You are going to go back to your troublemaking friends and I'll go back to studying for the N.E.W.Ts. That's just how things are. We shouldn't pretend to be friends, we're not." In the midst of all of her honesty, she left the part out about how she was growing to fancy him and it scared her to death.

She had never had a serious crush before. Of course there had been a few dates here and there but nothing where she could see a potential relationship. And the fact that the first person she could sincerely see herself dating was James Potter, well that threw her entire world into a dizzying spiral.

Oh bugger.

Actually allowing herself to think of James as potential boyfriend material caused her breath the hitch up in her throat, or perhaps it was bile, she couldn't be completely sure.

"Do you want to pretend that this never happened?" He sounded as though he doubted the sincerity to her words. Frankly, she doubted her own sincerity.

However, it was the typical question of what ifs that flooded her thoughts. It was the weight of the pros and the cons.

Did she want to pretend that her heart hadn't fluttered eagerly the moment that his hand pressed flat against hers in the ballroom? Did she want to pretend that she wasn't relieved to see that he had to share the same Shakespearian nightmare as she? Did she want to pretend that the thought of kissing him hadn't crossed her mind in the last fifteen minutes?

No, she didn't. Well, except for that last one… She was happy to pretend that the last one had never happened.

Slowly, she shook her head. "No, I don't."

"Then why force yourself to?" His tone was cheeky and she felt another scowl find its place on her lips, though it had fallen there out of habit.

"Because you're a complete git." Her words didn't hold any of the same venom or bite that they usually did, and the slow appearance of a smile on her face kept either of them from taking the insult too seriously. "I'm acting pretty ridiculous, aren't I?"

"It's nothing out of the usual." He shrugged it off, smiling just the same.

The disgusting thing was that it was his ability to do so, to be so casual about things that he could just shrug them off and not dwell over them, that she found so endearing. Lily had the unfortunate ability to let things weigh her down to the point of insanity; it probably was incredibly unhealthy for her. It was probably the only thing she'd ever envied about him.

"Right, well then, since we've settled that… I need some help." Lily admitted sheepishly. She hated admitting that she needed help, especially over something such as potions. She was good at that class; it came very easily for her. It was just the properties of all of these plants that were meshing together making it very hard for her to understand what the potion called for.

She laid the book in her hands on the table and turned it around so that James could properly see the text. Leaning in closer to the table, and by default, James, she pointed at a particular paragraph that she was stumbling with.

"This plant says that it has the same properties as the bay leaf but also that it could be potentially dangerous if used incorrectly. It doesn't say what would be incorrect usage of it but I'm certain that it sounds familiar. If we added it to our current potion, what would happen? I mean, would we create some sort of time portal that couldn't close or something?" she questioned.

James scanned the paragraph, the name of the plant sounded familiar to him as well. It wasn't until he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose that Lily noticed that she had been paying rapt attention to him, so much so that she was now sort of leaning against the table that they were situated at. She justified it as she was trying to see the pages of the book better in the dim candlelight.

He looked up from the book to see Lily hovering maybe a foot away from him. A small flush caused his ears to glow red and he looked back down at the parchment. Wracking his mind for seven years of Herbology and Potions information was probably the best exam preparation that he was going to get.

"I don't know exactly what would happen." He admitted finally. "We could risk it and try it, or we could try and come up with plan B." By now, James had managed to pull his gaze away from the text and look over at the redheaded girl who was uncomfortably close to him at the moment. He was caught off guard by the fact that she had locked her eyes with his.

However, it was Lily that momentarily struck dumb. Words were no longer on her list of abilities as every time she opened her mouth to speak she found her lips pasted together. It was, of course, James's fault. There was something about his eyes that didn't allow her to pull away. The muddy browns and greens were comforting, and if she looked a little closer there was a faint touch of gold laced through.

The ironic humor to Lily was that his eyes fit him perfectly. Not just in the physical sort but in the metaphorical as well. From afar they just looked to be a plain brown; much like James could easily be dismissed as a prankster and part of that silly Marauder gang or whatever term they used. If you got a little closer, you found the deep greens; the part of James that showed that he wasn't just a prankster but a fitting Head Boy and good student.

But if you perched yourself closer, a dangerous close as Lily was right now, you spotted the gold. It was, perhaps, the part of James that made you realize just how far into this you had gotten. It was the part that made Lily realize that she could never view him as the same havoc wrecking pre-teen she had sworn to despise. She was in lust with him. She would go far enough to say that she could possibly fancy him.

"Lily…" The soft whisper of her name was enough to break her out of her metaphors.

She snapped abruptly to attention, focusing more clearly on the boy in front of her. "Hmm? Oh, sorry." Luckily for both of them, she wasn't sorry enough to pull away from her precarious position over the table.

James was fighting an internal battle, he wanted nothing more than to close the space between him and Lily, but he also knew that in doing so he could potentially ruin whatever friendship they might have forged over the past couple of days – it seemed much longer than that. Though, he had never been the type to worry about the consequences, so it came as no surprise when he leaned forward slightly to close the gap between their lips.

Lily was taken aback at first, unable to respond in any way. She had hoped with the smallest shred that he would close the space between them, but now that he had, she was frozen.

James didn't seem to mind, however, as he continued kissing her, reveling in the moment. She wasn't pulling away so he figured that was a good sign. Slowly, her eyes fluttered closed and she remembered the correct way to go about kissing someone, responding to James's kisses happily. She was certain that she felt him smile into the kiss when she did so.

Her lips were slightly chapped from the recent abuse she had caused during her reading session, her habit of biting her lip causing them to swell easily against the increasing force of the kisses being showered on her. As much as she hated to do so, she separated herself from James with a soft pop that was actually quite humorous if one were to think about it.

"It's really uncomfortable leaning over this table," she explained half-heartedly.

James grinned at her, fascinated to see that the redness and swelling of her lips was actually caused by him. "Understandable." Simple one worded responses were actually all he felt that he could manage right now.

"What were we talking about before all of that happened?" Lily questioned, sitting back in her chair. She pulled a text book to her and tried to remember the task at hand. Obviously James had proven to be a distraction even more so before that kiss, because every word on the page looked foreign though she knew she had been looking at it before.

"Um…" James began, breaking off in thought. There must have been some magical properties in that kiss as he couldn't remember a single thing except how wonderful it had felt to finally have been able to kiss her. "You were saying that you fancy me?" he teased, having no better answer.

Lily rolled her eyes, "You wish."


	7. Chapter 7

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**  
**By: geekinthepink**  
**Rating: T**  
**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.**

**I'm so sorry that this is the third time that the chapter has gone up, there's been too many editing problems that were completely my fault, but this time it's here to stay.**

**Finally, I've done my thank yous!  
**_Sarah-Lily-Potter-Kavanagh_ – Thank you a thousand times over for your amazing compliments. I tried really hard to make this story as original as possible and I'm glad that I achieved that goal. Thank you also for adding me to your favorites and author alert list, that's incredibly flattering! Also, thank you for your continuing encouragement; you truly make me smile when I receive your reviews.  
Thanks also go to: _prongsiesxlilyxflower, evelinekathleen, J.E.A.R.K.Potter, Saigo no Megami, Sarah, Em3191, -dEAd-clUmsY-, EmpressMLP, lillllll, and mauraudersminuspeterarehot_!

A million cookies, and this chapter's dedication, to all of you!

PLUS a gigantic thank you to my brand new, fantastic beta reader Diana (pumpkinpasty).

**Act Three: Scene One.**

While the day was slowly drifting away, the sun beat down on the streets of Verona with a vengeance. Perhaps it was because of the ongoing dispute between the Capulets and the Montagues, or perhaps it was because the hot Italian sun knew of the events to come. Mercutio and Benvolio, or Not-Sirius and Not-Remus as James had taken to calling them, found themselves wasting away in the heat.

"Mercutio, please, let's call it a day," Benvolio pleaded, praying that the sun would soon set and force them to retire to their homes. "It's hot and we're running the risk of bumping into the Capulets. When it's hot out, people get hot-headed, and I am not in the mood to fight."

Mercutio, however, was not in the mood to give up the last few hours of the day because of something as meaningless as the weather. "You, my friend, are like a man that walks into a room, unsheathes his sword and says, 'I will never use you.' And after a drink or two you take the sword up and use it against whatever poor sod is the closest to you."

Benvolio didn't appear to be very amused with the little analogy. "Do you really think that I'm one of those men?"

"Oh come off it," Mercutio continued on. "You can be as angry as anyone when you're in a mood. Even if someone does the smallest thing that could make you angry, you get angry. Sometimes you even look for things to be angry about."

"What's your point?"

"If there were two men like you, one of you would kill the other. You'll fight with a man who's cracking nuts just because you have hazelnut-colored eyes. Only you would look for a fight like that. And yet, here you are, trying to teach me about restraint."

Benvolio sighed heavily, exhausted with his friend's antics. "If I picked fights as easily as you, I would be a walking dead man."

"That's foolish," Mercutio pointed out almost cheerfully.

Amid their banter, neither of the boys noticed the sudden appearance of the same family Benvolio had hoped to avoid. Neither family seemed to notice each other until the crunch of shoes meeting the gravelly pavement neared. Looking up, Benvolio was the first to spot the arrival of the unwelcome Capulet family.

"Oh fantastic, here comes the Capulets," he muttered quietly to his friend.

"I don't care," Mercutio informed him rather haughtily, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

Tybalt, apparently the ringleader of the small group of Capulets, was the first the approach. "Good day gentlemen," he greeted them politely, stopping a safe distance away from the other men. "Could I have a word with you?"

"Just a word?" Mercutio questioned him. "Why not put it with another word or two and make a sentence?"

Benvolio shot his friend a sharp look that should have warned him against the dangers of toying with these people, but Mercutio didn't seem to notice, or rather, didn't care. Either way, it appeared that while he had hoped that they might be spared from a fight today, they would be walking into one instead.

"Sir," Tybalt's manners began to irk Mercutio and he clenched his jaw. "I'll be more than willing to do so, if you give me a reason to."

"Can't you find a reason without me giving you one?"

Growing tired of Mercutio's game, Tybalt sighed in much the same way that Benvolio had done moments before. "You consort with Romeo."

"Consort?" Mercutio asked, feigning idiocy. "What do you think we are? Minstrels?" He rested a hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword as a warning. "If we be but minstrels then I shall use this as my fiddle and make you dance." His tone was dangerous and Benvolio was quick to intervene.

"We are in a public place." He stated the obvious to the bickering pair. "Go someplace private if you wish to continue on, speak rationally, or simply leave us alone." He aimed the last suggestion at the Capulets.

"You would dare to rob the public of a show such as this?" Mercutio questioned fervently, the heat making a fool of his anger.

It was at this time that the dimension travelers finally caught up with the Shakespearian verse that they were trapped in. James stepped out of the apothecary and onto the hot Italian streets. He quickly caught sights of the likenesses of his friends in a heated debate with what he assumed to be the so-called relatives of Lily.

He couldn't help it, but a smile rose to his lips at the thought of her. Who would have known that all it would have taken was a tragedy to bring them together? Of course, they weren't technically together but that was a fact that James was more than happy to dismiss. She had kissed him, which was enough for him.

Tybalt also grinned, but his reasoning was far more sadistic. "Good day gentlemen," he dismissed Mercutio and Benvolio upon seeing James' appearance. "Here comes the man I'm looking for."

"He's not the one you're looking for." Mercutio tried desperately to save his friend from the impending trouble that had undoubtedly found him. Unfortunately for James, Tybalt ignored Mercutio's cries.

"Romeo, you are a villain," Tybalt informed James sharply.

The verses of the play ringing sharply through James's mind, he tried to push past the other young man forcefully; however, Tybalt must have been expecting such an advance, because he blocked James easily.

"I am not a villain," James informed the small crowd easily. "You haven't a clue who I am, but I am most certainly not a villain. So, simply put, goodbye." Trying the tactic of pause and then run as fast as he could, James hoped to break past these men and get on to the more pressing matter of returning to the Montague home to retrieve his wand. The potion was nearly complete, and it would not be long before James and Lily would find themselves back at Hogwarts.

Once more, Tybalt was ready for the sudden leap of James's body and caught him tightly. "You have done me too much harm, Romeo." He shoved James backwards and he stumbled a little at the sudden force against his body. "Now draw your sword, and we shall settle this."

"I have done you no harm," James protested, suddenly wishing he would have thought of doing something to him. Perhaps a nice little spell to flip him upside down would do the trick, as he had done to Severus Snape once before? It was too late now, no deed had been done and yet he faced a duel, for once without his wand.

"This is ridiculous," Mercutio intervened. He withdrew his own sword and pointed it and the Capulets, Tybalt in particular. "Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you fight me?" It sounded like a dare, even to James, who still found this manner of speaking a little peculiar.

"What do you want from me?" Tybalt questioned, eyeing the tip of the sword precariously.

"Good King of Cats, I want to take one of your nine lives. And afterwards, depending on how well you treat me, perhaps I'll beat the other eight out of you. Come now, unsheathe your sword," he taunted light-heartedly.

Nodding a little, Tybalt pulled his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Mercutio. "Alright, I'll fight you."

Knowing that the only direction this could lead to would be bloodshed; James felt that it was his job to cut in. After all, for some odd reason, this was his fault. As loyal to James as Sirius was, Mercutio was willing to take this battle into his own hands to protect Romeo. It was foolish, and James wouldn't allow it.

"Mercutio, put your sword away," James ordered him.

"Now Tybalt, perform your forward thrust and let us get on with it," Mercutio said, ignoring James all together.

Before anyone had any time to process what was going on, the clash of sword against sword rang clearly through the small street. With the odd attire and use of ancient swords, James would have mistaken this for a re-enactment of some sort of battle scene, but as the vibrations of such heavy metals whacking against each other was so near that he could feel it, he couldn't mistake this for anything but what it was – a fight to the death.

"Draw your sword, Benvolio!" James ordered the other young man as he unsheathed the sword that he had considered part of the decorations of the too-tight pants. "You two loons!" He called out to Mercutio and Tybalt. "Didn't the Prince ban fighting in the streets? Stop, both of you!" Merlin, did he hate playing the peace maker. That was more Remus's forte, or even Lily's, and he was normally the one starting things like this.

Neither Mercutio nor Tybalt broke apart at James's cries, however. Taking an angry step towards them, he went to break the pair apart when Tybalt's sword pierced Mercutio's body. James froze in his advance and watched as Tybalt and the other Capulets made their swift exit so that the blame for this incident could not be placed on them.

"I have been wounded!" Mercutio cried after them. "May a plague curse both your houses!"

As James advanced towards Mercutio, so did Benvolio. Both of them surveyed their friend with concern. It was the ties between this boy and his own best friend that caused James' breath to hitch in his throat.

"Are you hurt?" Benvolio questioned.

"It's just a scratch, but it's enough." Mercutio admitted, the wound trickling blood onto his clothing. "You, boy!" he called to the nearest peasant boy still wandering the streets. "Go find me a doctor!" The boy obeyed and left the scene quickly, certainly having seen the blood threatening to stain the streets.

"It can't be that bad," James said, trying to assure him with the smallest of smiles.

"It's not very deep, nor is it very wide, but it is enough. It'll do the job, my friends. Tomorrow I shall be housed in a grave. I am spent. I am done for in this world, I believe. May a plague strike both your houses! That foul, disgusting braggart who fights like he learned it in a book! Why did you try and stop us?" He turned on James. "It was your cries that distracted me."

"I thought that it was the right thing to do," James told him honestly.

"Benvolio, help me into some house or I shall faint," Mercutio said, looking as though he would certainly fall to the ground if he were to make any sort of movement. "A plague on both your houses! You have made me food for the worms."

Benvolio carefully carried Mercutio's body into the nearest house, begging the homeowners for the intrusion, and James found himself turning away. While he had not really gotten to know the boy, the similarities between Mercutio and Sirius were so apparent that it was making James feel ill.

He walked a few paces but could achieve no more as he dwelled on the fact that this entire altercation should never have happened. While it was plainly written in Shakespeare's original text, James somehow wished that he could have changed what had happened. He and Lily had done it before, hadn't they? They changed the purpose of Friar Lawrence, making him into something that he had not been meant to be. But that was the problem, wasn't it? They hadn't really changed anything. Friar Lawrence had still banded Romeo and Juliet together, while not in marriage, but in a kiss. And now, now Mercutio had fallen at the hands of a Capulet. The story hadn't changed, not really at least.

Spotting Benvolio exiting the house he had borrowed, James knew that Mercutio was dead even before Benvolio had stated it. Even Tybalt chose this moment to make his entrance back into the scene, and James looked at the man with the strongest look of disgust that he could muster.

"Why should he be alive and kicking when Mercutio is dead?" James questioned coldly. "Now, Tybalt." He cornered on the young man as he approached. "You can call me a villain as you did before, but it'll be you, I, or both of us that will soon be meeting with Mercutio again." Of course, James had the added help that he had read _Romeo and Juliet_. Though he would never admit it to anyone back home. Ever.

"Foolish boy, you are the one that befriended him. It only makes sense that it would be you to join him in the afterlife." Tybalt said, obviously trying his hand at being witty. It wasn't working too well for him.

"I suppose we shall see." James stated, using his drawn sword to his advantage, plunging at Tybalt.

The weight of the sword was almost too much in his hand as he was unaccustomed to something so large in a battle. Wands were easy to maneuver with, but there was something about the physical exertion of sword fighting that made anger management much more fluid. Taking a deep breath, James fought the urge to clench his eyes shut as he knew what the story called for him to do at this point. With one final blow, he found his own sword sinking into the flesh of the young man across from him, knowing that it had been a direct hit.

Unlike Mercutio, Tybalt's death came swiftly and James stumbled backwards away from the body. Breathing was an art that he could no longer master as the realization that he had just killed a man sunk in. Sure it had been a fictional character, but the feel of flesh and bone connecting with the metal of the sword had been real enough.

"Romeo, get out of here." Benvolio warned. "People are watching, and Tybalt is dead. The Prince will sentence you to death if you stick around. Now go!"

James didn't need to be told twice. He quickly turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could down the streets of Verona. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but he knew that it didn't need to be someplace far. At least, not for now.

While James took off running down the streets, the citizens of the watch were quickly approaching to see to the matters at hand.

"Where did that man go? The one that killed Mercutio? That murderous Tybalt, which way did he go?" A citizen of the watch asked of Benvolio.

"Tybalt is there." Benvolio pointed a few yards away where Tybalt's body lay on the ground.

Not advancing close enough to notice that Tybalt was lying dead, the man ordered him to get up. Naturally, being dead, Tybalt didn't listen. Just as the citizen of the watch was growing annoyed with Tybalt's corpse, Lord and Lady Montague as well as Lord and Lady Capulet appeared on the scene with the prince.

"Where is the man that started this fight?" The prince demanded of Benvolio.

"Prince, I can tell you everything you wish to know about this fight. Tybalt is lying over there, dead. He killed your relative, Mercutio and in return, Romeo killed him." Benvolio summed the story up easily and waited for the outcries that were sure to come.

Lady Capulet was the first to cry out, "Tybalt was my nephew! My nephew is dead!" Her weeping followed quickly, dampening the handkerchief that she had suddenly pulled out. "Oh fair and just Prince, take revenge and kill someone from the Montague family!"

Prince ignored her demand of his revenge and instead turned another question to Benvolio. "Who started this fight?"

"Tybalt did. That was, before Romeo killed him. Romeo told him how silly this argument was and mentioned briefly that you would not be pleased with it. He said this all calmly but could not make peace with Tybalt, who was in a fighting mood. He fought Mercutio for a moment before Romeo tried desperately to break it up; however, Tybalt lunged at Mercutio and then fled the scene.

"Soon enough he came back and Romeo sought vengeance for his friend's death. Before I could do anything about it, Romeo had slain Tybalt. Having seen what had happened, Romeo ran away. I swear this to you, my Prince, I swear it on my life," Benvolio admitted forcefully.

"Benvolio is part of the Montague family," Lady Capulet spit out. "His tie to them makes him tell lies! He is not telling the truth. There were twenty Montagues fighting against my poor, dear Tybalt. I demand justice. Romeo was the one to kill Tybalt, so Romeo must die as well."

"Romeo has killed Tybalt. Tybalt has killed Mercutio. Who should pay the price for Mercutio's life?" Prince questioned Lady Capulet.

"Not Romeo, Prince," Lord Montague interjected. "He was Mercutio's friend. His crime paid justice by taking Tybalt's life."

"And for that, Romeo shall be exiled from Verona. I shall not be involved in your rivalry. Mercutio was my relative, and he lies dead because of your bloody feud. I'll punish you so harshly that you'll regret causing me this loss. I won't listen to your pleas or excuses. You can't get out of trouble by praying or crying, so don't bother. Tell Romeo to leave the city immediately, or else, if he is found, he will be killed. Take away this body, and do what I say. Showing mercy by pardoning killers only causes more murders."


	8. Chapter 8

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**  
**By: geekinthepink**  
**Rating: T**  
**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.**

With all of the current angst I tried to add in a little humor, however, my friends to tell me that things that I find funny really aren't so… Sorry?

Thanks again to the reviewers and of course to my lovely beta Diana. Unfortunately Diana didn't get a chance to read this chapter before it was posted because of an error with my e-mail server so if there are issues with the grammar etc then that's my fault, sorry.

**Chapter Eight: Act Three – Scene Two through Four (and three quarters)**

**Also Known As: Lovingly Tainted**

Having finally pried her eyes away from countless texts and drawings of plants, Lily found herself to be back in the near comforts of the Capulet home. As much as it scared her, she was beginning to grow fond of this place. Even in Shakespeare's time, Italy was a beautiful place and Lily was almost sad that she wouldn't have the chance to take advantage of that.

It wasn't just the weather or the countryside, either, that had Lily growing fond of this place. Even under the pain of death she would never admit it, but were it not for James Potter she probably would be in tears right now. She was an immeasurable distance away from home, she was facing her potential death and the only thing that she could think of was the fact that she had actually kissed James Potter.

She couldn't blame the whole thing on him either, she had been the one to find herself wondering across her books what it would be like to just suck it up and close the gap between them. She had been the one hoping from the edge of the table that he would just listen to his hormones and abandon any fear of ruining their newfound friendship.

And now – now she wished desperately that he was here so that her lips would stop tingling from his touch.

It was murder.

A very painful murder.

Suddenly her mind tore itself away from hormone ridden re-enactments of her earlier kiss and reminded her of what play she was in, of what act and scene it was corresponding to. Mercutio and Tybalt must have fallen by now, she realized. Meaning that James would be banished from the city.

That is, if he had killed Tybalt.

She shook her head to rid of the thoughts. He couldn't do that. James would never kill someone, especially over a person he didn't even know. Would he? Sure she teased him about his bravery, his chivalry and sometimes this dire attention seeking beast he turned into, but was it the sort of thing that would cause him to plunge a sword deep into the heart of a man he didn't know?

Lily didn't know. She tucked her hair behind her ear with a shaky hand and nearly jumped a mile at the sound of the door opening behind her to admit the nurse. A frown coated the older woman's face and Lily knew that it had happened; James had killed him.

"Oh what a sad, sad day. He's dead. He's dead. He's dead! We're ruined, miss, we're ruined."

When Lily didn't respond to her melodramatic outburst, Nurse continued on.

"Who would have ever thought that it would be Romeo?" She cried out with a sob.

Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes, fully aware of the name dropping that Nurse was trying to use to draw in her questioning. Playing along with the baiting, though her heart was not in the teasing, Lily searched her memory for the lines.

"Why do you torture me so? Has Romeo killed himself? If you say yes then I shall become more poisonous than a snake. Your answer determines my pain or my happiness." Lily told her monotonously, the words sounding painfully rehearsed. For some reason, the fact that James had been forced to kill Tybalt sent a rippling feeling of sadness through her body. It was like ice numbing her body slowly.

"I saw the wound. Right on his chest. Pale skin and blood everywhere. I fainted when I saw it." Much to her characterization, Nurse was dragging this whole thing out and Lily fought desperately against the urge to slap her in her current bout of teenage angst.

"Oh, my heart is breaking." Lily said emotionlessly. "I shall never move again, I shall have to die as well and my body shall lie beside Romeo's for all eternity."

"Oh Tybalt! Tybalt! He was the best friend I had. Courteous gentleman, I wish I had not lived long enough to see you slain!" Obviously, Nurses cries were not for Lily's benefit as she wanted nothing more than to find James and leave this place. This had become too much, the play was moving too fast. She wanted to go back to the ballroom scene, back to the point where blood had not been spilled.

"Tybalt is dead and Romeo is banished." Nurse tried once more at the name dropping to capture Lily's attention. "Romeo has slain Tybalt and his punishment is banishment from the city."

Nothing could drag Lily away from her thoughts, however, as the desire to leave this wretched place was building up inside of her. A moment's worth of thoughts was enough to drive Nurse up from her spot in the chair next to Lily's and she stormed off towards the door. Stopping when her hand reached the doorknob she turned back to the redheaded young woman, "Will you come mourn the loss of your cousin?"

Lily didn't answer. She was thinking of a way to escape from her room tonight and make it to Friar Lawrence's apothecary without James being seen. It would have to be under the cover of night, that much was obvious. What they needed was… a Disillusionment Charm! She just wondered if James knew how to do it, it was too tricky for her to try with just her knowledge of the theory of it out of a book.

Hearing the click of the door she knew that the nurse had gotten fed up with the silence and Lily took this as a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep that she had missed in a night's worth of potions work.

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"Romeo!" A deep voice hissed, calling James out from his current hiding spot. It wasn't really much, to be quite honest. Seeking salvation in a clutter of ruins not too far away from the apothecary, James had spent most of the afternoon in thought. Now, as Friar Lawrence called him out he welcomed the interruption.

After all, there were only so many times you could play the same kiss over in your mind. Oh, who was he kidding? He detested the Shakespearian creation from pulling him away from the replay of the single most memorable moment in his life. Learning to fly was nothing when compared to a kiss with the woman you were going to marry. At least, that's what James was thinking before he reminded himself not to count his chickens before they quacked, or some Muggle cliché like that.

"So what's happened? What's my punishment?" At the idea of being punished and the realization that detention would probably be preferred, his heart sank a little. The fact that he knew that it would be banishment didn't help either, for it still kept him away from Lily.

Friar Lawrence shook his head, motioning for James to come into the apothecary where the chances of being overheard were reduced. Moving required more mental effort than physical from James as it was much easier to think when not surrounded by countless herbs and plants.

"He made a gentle decision, it's banishment for you." The way the friar delivered the words was like a death sentence. Gloom swept over James despite his knowledge of these affairs. The reality of the situation that he and Lily had gotten caught in was astounding, it was all happening. He had been the one to murder Tybalt. He had been the one to sink his sword deep within the other man. It had been him – James Potter – who had killed another person. How was a seventeen year old supposed to deal with that?

"You might as well say that he ordered me to be killed. Being exiled is much worse than death." James sighed and sunk onto a chair. With his head in his hands he found it much easier to close his eyes and block out the reality of his recent actions.

"You cannot come back here, back to Verona that is." Friar Lawrence knew how much of a punishment this truly was for the potion was near completion. They had gotten it to a state where all they needed to do was test it, but with the rate of fatality being high for such a fragile potion, they needed to run a couple more tests.

He looked at the young man with sorrow etched into his sun-worn features. He pitied the boy, but at the same time he thought him to be ungrateful. Banishment was nothing compared to the death sentence that rightfully belonged to him. "Our Prince took sympathy on you," he told him. "He ignored the laws and substituted banishment in the place of death. This is mercy, and you don't realize it."

For all his alliance with this young man, the fact remained clear to Friar Lawrence that Romeo was in fact a murderer now. He was tainted.

James remained silent for all the man's lecturing. He didn't care at the moment about mercy or how sympathetic the prince was, the fact remained in emboldened black and white that he had killed another person. He had known that it was coming but it couldn't shake the shock of reality. Was this what Lord Voldemort and Grindelwald felt?

"Listen to me!" Friar Lawrence finally snapped.

"Why? So that you can go on about my bloody banishment?" James questioned coldly, lifting his head out of his hands to look at the older man. "No, sorry."

"Do you want the antidote for trouble?" The friar asked, continuing on without waiting for a retort from his younger companion. "Philosophy."

"Forget philosophy! Will your philosophy create a way for Lily and me to get out of here? Will it undo things that have already occurred? It doesn't do anything! Just… Don't talk to me." James let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, so now you're also deaf?" Friar Lawrence questioned him. He shook his head at the younger boy, realizing that he had gotten himself in deeper than he had expected.

"You don't understand. You're not trapped in some sort of twisted dimension where you re-enact books! You didn't just kill a man that technically doesn't exist. I did!" Whatever emotions James was keeping welled up inside exploded at the friar in one simple moment. There was too much on his plate and it was far too over his head.

A sudden knocking at the door sounded, which surprised both of the men.

"Hide yourself!" Friar Lawrence hissed to James in a whisper. The younger man hesitated for a moment, before getting up from the chair swiftly. "Go, hide yourself in my study." Nodding at Friar Lawrence's direction, James did as he was told.

The knocking continued while Friar Lawrence made his way to the door. "What do you want?" he questioned, his hand hovering over the knob.

"Let me come in. I come from Lady Juliet." Nurse demanded through the heavy door. The friar admitted her in quickly and ushered her inside of the apothecary. In a characteristic fit of over dramatics she turned on the friar in a blink of the eye. "Oh good friar! Where is he? Where is my lady's love? Where is Romeo?"

From the study, James allowed his head to hit the door he was pressed against (in order to eavesdrop) with a soft thud. Honestly, did these two not have anything better to do than play matchmaker? Of course, he had kissed Lily so perhaps he owed them something.

"He's in my study. Getting drunk off of his sorrow." The cynical nature of the man's words must have escaped the Nurse's attention for she responded with a resounding sigh.

"The same as Juliet then. She is so depressed words escape her." Nurse informed him, regardless of the truth or not. Growing tired with the lack of Romeo's presence, she called out to him, "Stop being such a coward of a man and come out here, for her sake."

Doing as he was ordered, James opened the door to the study and readmitted himself into the friar and Nurse's presence. He found the large woman to be obnoxious in his current state of depress and wished for nothing more than a nice Bat Bogey Hex to place upon her. Of course, that was hardly appropriate as she was the only real link he had to Lily at the moment.

"How is she?" James asked, worried that the weight of this all was effecting Lily as well

"She hardly speaks, sir." Nurse admitted.

"Then I must go to her." James decided. It was now or never, they made their escape tonight; before anything got worse.

"I will tell my lady you will come." Nurse told him with a small nod. She nodded to Friar Lawrence as well before turning around and making her way back out the door. James watched her leave, lost once more in his thoughts. When he returned to reality he found the friar collecting a vial of the potion.

"If this works then I bid you both the fondest farewells, however, if it does not then stay in Mantua for a while before you can figure out another plan. Good luck, young Romeo. You have certainly faced a lot since you first approached me and I hope that you and your lady are able to leave without more trouble."

For all of the arguing between the two men moments before, James found he truly appreciated the man's sincere goodbye.

"Thank you, I wish we could repay you somehow. You have been infinitely helpful." Taking the vile from Friar Lawrence's outstretched hand James realized that for once he didn't know what lay on the other side of this page. He could either return back to Hogwarts leaving Verona behind as nothing more than a dream, or he could face something much, much worse.

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How James managed to find himself in Lily – Juliet's room that night was quite the embarrassment. First he found himself sprinting across the grounds of the Caplet's home as to avoid the guards, followed by a rousing climb up an ivy trellis in which he almost fell – twice, and then to top of the whole shebang with a cherry, the doors were locked.

Yes, the large glass French doors to the room were locked. Lily didn't even realize it until he started pounding furiously to get her attention. She raised her head from the pillow, hair a mess, and looked at him like he was some sort of peeping tom.

And then, and then! She took her own sweet time to get up and let him in.

"Finally." James muttered, walking into the bedroom.

"Finally?" she questioned, finding him entirely too ungrateful for his own good. "Do you have any idea what it was like to be in my shoes today, James? While you were off gallivanting around and proving that no matter what we do this bloody play is going to happen I sat back and had to play the role of the good little daughter of these people. You know, I actually thought that you might change the play and not kill Tybalt, but I was wrong about that too." She didn't know if she was actually upset that he had slain the fictional character or if it was just all of her emotions spilling out at once.

"I didn't want to kill him, Lily." James tried to justify. He sighed and sat down on her bed. "I hardly was conscious that I was still in this play, I just started thinking that if that Mercutio bloke was anything to Romeo like Sirius is to me, then Tybalt had it coming. But now – Now I don't know. I killed him." He announced the last part like it was just occurring to him.

Lily met his sigh with one of her own. "I'm sorry," she apologized to him. "Are you going to be okay?" She couldn't imagine what it must be like for him to run the incident through his head so many times.

"Yeah, that's the weird thing. I know I'll be fine, I know he got what he deserved but it's just shell-shocking." He had come to terms with the death of the antagonist of this story and even with the fact that he had killed him, it was just the realization of that action that was difficult.

Remembering the reason why he was actually in her bedroom at the moment he withdrew the vial from his tunic. "Friar Lawrence gave this to me. We haven't tested it yet so the results still aren't certain, but at the moment it's really the only choice we have."

Lily looked at the small glass vial containing their potion. It had cooled to a transparent state, much like she assumed that it would but the sunlight streaming in from the window tinted it a vibrant orange. Biting her lip gently she took the vial from James's hand and looked at it lying in her palm. "We have three options with this potion. We drink and it works, we go back to Hogwarts and put this all in the past. We drink it and it doesn't work and we work on a plan B. Or, we drink and it proves to be fatal."

James nodded, they had been through these scenarios before. "Let's hope for the first option then."

"It shouldn't take a lot of the potion to work." She informed him. "The smallest sip should produce results." Her gaze had wandered away from James and back down to the vial in her hands. The small amount of the potion was so daunting, so terrifying. If they had done anything wrong, picked the wrong herbs, boiled the leaves too long, then the chances of something bad happening were high. "I'll just go first then." She offered.

James opened his mouth to protest but she had already pulled the stopper out of the vial. He watched as she eyed it hesitantly and sighed. She brought the glass up to her lips but refrained from tipping in even one drop of it. She was scared, though James had learned through years of experience that she would never admit it.

"Lily, stop." He told her before she could tip the vial even the centimeter it would take to get a drop onto her tongue. She lowered the vial and waited for an explanation. "We don't have to leave now. We know for certain that the next scene doesn't occur until morning. Let's just use this time to breathe." He was wondering if it was possible for him to be more afraid of her drinking the potion than she was.

"If we can leave now, why wait?" Lily asked.

In obvious avoidance of the question, she found that James's lips had met hers, stifling all thoughts that could have possibly wanted to flow from her lips. After all, her lips were a little busy right now. Almost as a reflex she returned the kiss, forgetting once more that a week ago she would have hexed someone for even suggesting that she kiss James.

Of course, he was rather addicting. Besides, kissing was better than worrying about potions and Shakespeare and … Wow, he was good at that.

In the course of the past couple of seconds James's hands had found their way to Lily's waist, pulling her closer to him. She thought that it would be impossible to move any closer to him but obviously he wanted to see if they could break more laws of physics. That or he was just really possessive. Either excuse was really plausible but if he kept up this kissing thing she really didn't mind.

It wasn't that she had ever thought about what it would be like to kiss James Potter, but when you reached a certain point in your life and find that at seventeen you've never had a "real kiss" you just start to wonder. It wasn't even until she had kissed him over the pages of some ragged books that she even could process the idea of kissing him. But ever since then it was like he had plagued her mind.

Running their last kiss through her mind had done nothing to match up the feel of his lips against her. While in theory the smashing of one's lips against another person's should have no butterflies in the stomach effect, it did. It was actually quite disgusting the more she thought about it. How could the one boy who had caused her to shout off tangents about the stupidest things cause her feel like some lovesick teenager?

Oh, right. She was a lovesick teenager, sans the love. It was just lust. Lust over his amazing lips. She had to repeat that a couple of times in her head before she was completely certain of it.

His lips moved over hers easily, sending the butterflies in her stomach into complicated flying patterns and painful dives. Lily had forgotten what they had even been talking about until the vial in her hand fell to the ground with the distinct sound of shattering glass. She and James broke apart and looked down at the mess of liquid and glass littering the floor. A look of horror crossed her face and she looked over to see that James was smirking a little.

"Oh, shut up," she swatted at him. "You weren't that good; I just didn't feel like holding the vial anymore." She knew that he wouldn't believe her excuse for her breath had caught as their only chance to escape absorbed into the hardwood floor.

Lily brought her hand to her mouth and bit at the nail of her thumb for a few seconds, trying to put together some sort of way to fix this problem James had caused. It really was his fault, she decided, because if he hadn't been running his tongue across her bottom lip in such a tantalizing way she wouldn't have lost her ability to hold on to things.

"We can just get more from Friar Lawrence, I'm sure he kept enough for us to use." James tried to reason, his own gaze fixed upon the shards of glass. He was sure that it wasn't that big of a deal but the mixture of amusement and fear from Lily's inability to hold on to the vial was causing him to lose himself in thought.

She shook her head, "No, we can't. You can't be seen in Verona. I can send Nurse to see if she can get some but I won't be able to go myself, James. Tomorrow is when they announce my impending marriage to Paris; the Capulets will be watching me like a hawk." She said. "What's the likelihood of Friar Lawrence even keeping the remaining potion? It's witchcraft and he could be hung for that here. Besides, that vial was supposed to contain enough to keep us from needing him again."

"There's go to be another way." James told her, looking at her as opposed to the shards of glass and remnants of potion.

With thoughts of more vials filled with sleeping draughts, poisons and deadly daggers, Lily nodded her head. "Yes, there has to be."

The silence that filled the room was stifling and Lily had to take a deep breath to calm herself. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, but this was their lives they were talking about, this was the line between reality and this Shakespearian suicide. Neither of she nor James were stupid enough to kill themselves but hadn't the play somehow worked around their reluctance to do things before?

"I need to lie down." She announced, settling herself down onto the canopy bed decorating Juliet's room. She looked up at the gauze coating the wooden frame before closing her eyes and trying to think of some way to find a loophole. Anything was welcome, a way to get more potion, a way to avoid killing herself, anything.

She was running a thousand scenarios through her head when she felt the bed shift under her body. Opening her eyes she found that James had situated himself on the bed beside her.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, lacking the venom that usually accompanied her questions of him.

"It's getting late," he explained, "and I sincerely doubt that I'll be able to find some place to sleep tonight without being discovered in Verona still." As he said the words the realization that the play was rewriting itself, that he had become the main character, hit once more. He was getting sick of the same epiphany over and over.

Lily nodded at his reasoning, "Okay." It wasn't like she could kick him out and force him to sleep on some rock in some unknown place and as there wasn't anything in the room that would provide a decent nights sleep, she couldn't see an alternative.

She looked up to the ceiling again to try and sort through her thoughts before she felt James's eyes still upon her. "Stop it." She ordered of him. He only shook his head in response.

"You have to stop worrying yourself to death. We're going to find some way out of this, just try and get some sleep, Lily." He requested.

James was met with a small sigh from her before she rolled over on to her side to make it more comfortable to sleep. He continued to watch her, unable to believe that this was really happening, that he was sharing a bed with Lily Evans. He was mesmerized by the steady rising and falling of her chest with every breath she took and the way that her hair and skirts fanned out around her body, encasing her in impending sleep. He watched her until his eyes grew heavy and sleep encompassed him as well, momentarily forgetting that tomorrow would be the beginning of the end.


	9. Chapter 9

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**  
**By: geekinthepink**  
**Rating: T**  
**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.**

Really, I'm not funny. Lily comes off as slightly humorous but of course, that's in my opinion so if you think she sounds completely mad and all together off her rocker. That's my fault, and I am sincerely sorry.

**Chapter Nine: Act Three – Scene Five through Act Four – Scene One  
Also Known As: Lily goes slightly mad as she might care for James and find Paris disgusting**

The sunlight filtered in through the windows, much in the same way that it had just days ago when Lily found herself in this strange Shakespearian world. The sudden light in the darkness that had so long encompassed her here was lifted by the bright morning sun and the clutches of sleep escaped her grasp. James, however, appeared to be unfazed as he slumbered on.

In the course of night, his arm had somehow wound itself around Lily's waist and she lay with her head resting atop his shoulder. Having him so close was comforting and yet she had to fight off the automated urge to bolt from the sheets and disinfect herself. In the past couple of days James Potter became someone that she didn't recognize. No, that was a lie. She knew who he had become. He had become his character, he had become Romeo. He was selfless and kind and everything that she had come to respect. Her only fear was that once they returned to their normal lives that this fantasy would end as well.

She could hear his heartbeat in his chest, a steady melody that soothed the leftover worries of their trip home. She brought her hand to his chest to feel the rhythm of his heart in her hand, to be sure that this wasn't some sort of sick illusion that too much Italian sun had brought upon. He stirred from her touch, obviously not as deeply asleep as she had thought. He squinted at the sunlight fanning across the room and reached to the bedside table for his glasses, something she hadn't noticed that he was without.

He smiled down at her, hardly believing this himself before a frown touched his lips. The memory of yesterday's actions and misfortunes resounded and he wished that sleep would have just enveloped him forever.

Lily noted the frown and remained impassive, "Are you leaving then?"

"I have to, don't I? If I stay we won't get another batch of the potion and I could potentially be killed." The latter was said so nonchalantly that a laugh emitted from Lily's lips. He smiled at her again and smoothed her hair away from her face. She was slightly bothered by the action but said nothing to stop him from doing it again if he wished.

"You don't have to go yet." She amended. "There is still some time before anyone would come looking for me. And besides, we haven't worked out a plan. The end of the play is coming so quickly." Which, for them, meant death if they couldn't get home fast enough. Lily had begun to realize that even the addition of a potion to the story hadn't changed the play. She and James still had to fear for their lives.

A coy grin crossed James's features at her words. "Let me be killed then, I will gladly stay here forever." Or for however long forever turned out to be. It could be mere moments before everything was thrown into action. "Let's plan then, figure out what we're supposed to do."

Lily moved off of his chest and propped herself up on her elbow as her previous stance had proven to be too awkward for conversation. "Obviously we need to restore our supply of the potion. In the mean time, I suppose we just need to follow whatever comes in the play. I can get the potion from Friar Lawrence instead of the sleeping draft, take it and then you can follow me. That's really the best that I can come up with." She told him.

James nodded his agreement, "I suppose that's our best bet."

"I almost wish we didn't have to leave," she admitted to him. "The plotline and everything that we're stuck in is heading in a bad direction, but it's been almost fun."

James had no choice but to stare blankly at her. "Fun?" His questioning tone was really asking her if she was absolutely mad. "Which part was fun? The murder? The potion making? The potion dropping?"

"I get the point, James. You weren't having the time of your life but you have to admit, you're not going to forget this." She knew that she wouldn't be able to rid of these memories for a long while.

"No, that's for certain. I'm definitely going to remember some things." A smile crossed his lips as he recalled not one, but a pair of kisses delivered to him by Lily Evans. If this adventure had given him nothing more than that exchange, then the chance of having to risk his life later was well worth it.

She shook her head, inwardly congratulating him on making this a very awkward moment. A knock sounded at the door and without waiting for Lily to admit her, Nurse bustled into the room with a curt greeting.

"Your mother is coming to your bedroom." She announced, eyeing James. It was no surprise to her that he was in her charge's room; after all she was still certain that they were in love. "Be careful," she warned cheekily before making a swift exit.

"That woman really disturbs me." James announced once she had left.

"You have no idea." Lily agreed, getting up from the bed hesitantly. It was always a chore to rise from the comfortable sheets of any bed, but especially this one. For more reasons than she was ever willing to admit.

"So I guess I'll see you later?" James asked, following her lead and rising from the bed. Lily nodded and he crossed back to the balcony. He looked below where the ivy was decorating the house and providing makeshift ladders for him to use. He shook his head, cursing Mr. William Shakespeare for not living in a time where actual ladders or brooms were commonly used in plays.

He began his decent down the ivy trellis before Lily hurried over to the balcony. "I'll try and find some way to let you know that I have the potion and that things are on course. I'll leave a note or something with Friar Lawrence." She was determined to make sure that everything worked out for them; she didn't know how much longer they could stretch out the plotline until Shakespeare took over and plunged a dagger through her heart.

"Don't worry so much, everything will work out." He nodded, which was one of the few movements he wasn't terrified to make while clinging on to a plant. "Farewell my lady," he called out to her in a typical overdramatic scene. "We will meet again."

"Oh will we?" she questioned him. "Is that a threat?" She couldn't help but tease him, though sans the venom usually tainting her words. There hadn't been much venom in their conversations in a while.

"Of course. I have no doubts that we will meet again. Preferably at school and with many stories to tell our disbelieving friends." A good point, actually, how would you describe to your friends an adventure in which you crossed dimensions? Let alone an adventure where you lived out a play of all things.

"Will you just leave already?" she questioned him exasperatedly. "You are far too dramatic for your own good." And like the cheeky person he was, he merely smiled and descended the makeshift ladder. By time he had reached the ground Lily had already ducked back into her room, the unfamiliar sound of Lady Capulet calling to her ringing in her ears.

Lady Capulet entered the room in the same manner Nurse had, unannounced and quite unwelcome. "What is going on, Juliet?" Suspicion clouded her features but Lily knew that the woman could not be, and wasn't, that smart.

"I'm not feeling too well." She lied.

"Will you mourn Tybalt forever? Are you trying to wash him out of his grave with your tears, child? Stop the incessant river of tears, you look foolish." She hardly noticed that Lily's face was not in the slightest tearstained.

"You must let me continue to weep for such a great loss." Perhaps it wasn't right to press the woman's buttons, but as far as Lily knew she would never see her again and it was far too hard not to press just one little button.

"You're not weeping for his death but for the fact that the villain who murdered him is still alive." The commanding mother figure replied. It was apparent that she was harnessing her own bitterness towards Tybalt's death.

"What villain, Madam?" It was too easy; James was no longer the villain in her opinion. At least not in this case.

"Romeo. But do not worry, Juliet. We will have vengeance for it, if I have to send someone to Mantua to poison him I will." Lily chose not to respond to a useless empty threat. The woman would do no such thing, and even on the off chance she did, James would be so far gone that it would all be for naught. "Ah, but Juliet, your father had chosen to end your sadness if no one else's. At Saint Peter's Church early Thursday morning you will become Paris's bride."

The refusal that Juliet would have sprouted out was hesitant on Lily's lips. The news was no surprise to her and she knew that she would not be around long enough for the nuptials to occur. Her mind had begun to wander, to map out her steps in fulfilling her plans when Juliet's father entered the scene. He spouted some lines about the sun and the rain and how such things would never again grace the life of Tybalt and Lily didn't care. She wanted nothing more than to hold the vial of potion in her hand and pour it down her throat.

She could see now why James had disagreed with her wish to stay here a little longer. These people just didn't compare with her family, her friends or even her teachers. Perhaps it was the sudden lack of James for company that had made her long for home.

Somehow Lily had managed to miss the fight between Lady Capulet and her husband in which it was decided that she would marry Paris on Thursday, whether she liked it or not. They had left her with Nurse in the room and they had both fallen silent, neither one of them willing to talk about what was on their mind. It wasn't until Lily was dragged from her room and to Friar Lawrence's. It was a place that she had become increasingly familiar with and incredibly fond of. However, it was present company she wished to change as Paris proved to be a complete snot.

"It is very nice to meet you, my lady and my wife." Paris said. He kept saying it, actually. It was like a broken record that played the same obnoxious line over and over until it cracked.

"That may be, sir, but only after we are married." Pleasantries were forced between the pair and Lily itched to hex the boy, to ruin whatever good looks he felt he had.

"And we shall be come Thursday." And phrases such as that caused the redhead to want to hex him in ways that she had learned from James. Painful and disgusting ways that she wished she didn't know but was secretly thankful for. "Have you come to make confession?" he inquired, though they both knew that the question was unnecessary. It wasn't by chance that she was here; she was sent to accidentally come upon her "future husband".

"If I answered that question I would be making confession to you instead of him, would I?" Wit and cleverness beat prissy boys named Paris any day.

"Do not be ashamed to confess that you love me." Oh for Merlin's sake.

"I will confess to you that I love him." The retort was so open ended that Lily couldn't be certain of whom she was speaking of. Was it Friar Lawrence? Merlin himself? James?

"You will also confess that you love me." He was a persistent little bugger; Lily had to give him that.

"If I do, I am certain that it will mean much more if I say it behind your back than to your face." _After all,_ she added inwardly, _your pretty little face would be tarnished with the venom of my words._ "Do you have time to speak to me now Father, or shall I come at evening mass?" Of course he had time for her, the question was whether or not he had enough potion left to return James and herself to their own lives.

The friar obviously had gotten the hint as he nodded and informed her that he had all the time in the day if she needed it and then proceeded to ask Paris to leave. The latter being of utmost importance as one more remark from him was sure to send Lily past the point of no return. He was pretentious and she couldn't stand it. It was her pet peeve, and something oddly reminiscent of a James Potter that had disintegrated in Shakespearian Italy.

"I have made a mess of things," she admitted to Friar Lawrence. With a complete disregard for details involving the actions which led up to her dropping the vial of potion, she explained the situation she found herself in.

"And now this marriage to Paris arrives." He was filling in the blanks of her story though his remark was open-ended enough to allude to the mere action and not whatever emotion had been forged between herself and her dimension traveling companion. It was something that he had assumed would come and the older man was pleased to see that it had.

"Do you have any potion left?" She inquired. For all she knew he could have gotten rid of it, afraid that the mark of a witch would scar his name in the church despite how crooked he already appeared.

"Yes, but only a little. I feared that something like this would happen." He left her side and turned to a desk off in the corner of the room. With a large key kept on a cord around his neck he was able to unlock one of the drawers and retrieve a small vial. Had Lily not known that it would only take a drop to work she would have thought it impossible to return herself and James to their homes.

"Don't talk about fear," she nearly pleaded, butterflies fluttering rapidly in her stomach. She felt as though bile would rise up into her throat and taint her senses at any moment. Now that the time had come, the time to either face death or return to a life she loved, she felt everything had finally caught up with her and she hated the feeling.

She took the vial from him, examining the familiar liquid. This was their last chance; there would be no more do overs. If it didn't work, then they were stuck here. Lily would become Juliet Capulet and marry Paris and James would forever be banished to a completely different city. That fact nearly broke her heart. She had become attached to him and couldn't imagine having to go on in a world where being with him would have her banished, or killed. It was too ironic, really.

"I need to send a letter to James, but I can't just give it to him myself. Is there anyway that you can get it to him?" To Lily the next part of the play must have become a blur as she sincerely thought that Friar Lawrence would be able to deliver the letter to him.

"I can send a friar to him." He told her. Lily took a sheet of parchment off of the man's desk and a quill as well before sitting down to pen her letter. Never in her life had she thought that she would be writing to James, and never did she think that she would be concerned about him.

It was a completely different world here.


	10. Chapter 10

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**  
**By: geekinthepink**  
**Rating: T**  
**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.**

**Notes: The song "Vienna" by The Fray fits this chapter incredibly well so if you have access to that song, playing it during this chapter adds to the atmosphere. **

**Chapter Ten: The End of Act Four and the Beginning of Act Five  
Also Known As: A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers Take Their Lives**

By the time that Lily found herself in her room with the Nurse, her own emotions were on such high alert that she was certain that the beating of her heart would shake the walls. She was trying to calm herself down, to convince herself that nothing bad could come from this. She was an excellent potions student, James was right up there as well and they had done the best that they could have with this potion.

The weight of the bottle was never forgotten as it rest in the odd pouch perched on the inside of her dress. She supposed it was originally used for holding coins or perhaps a few herbs during monthlies but for now it was the only storage place she truly trusted to encase the vial. It was the vial that determined her life, after all.

Nurse inquired about the clothing that had been laid aside for the morning's wedding and she nodded her approval, just pleading for the woman to leave so she could relieve herself of the hundred pound weight pressing against her skin. With a soft clatter the door was closed and Lily found herself standing in the middle of her room alone.

She had to stop doing that, she reminded herself. This wasn't her room, this was Juliet's room. This was the room of someone who didn't exist. However, that was the one thing that she could never understand about this trip, if Juliet didn't exist how could any of this? How could she face death? How could Mercutio have fallen? She was convinced at this point that Juliet was more real to her now than ever before.

She felt for the girl as it was only understandable. She had seen the Capulets and Montagues in action and felt the pain that came from being caught in the middle. Lily couldn't even lie to herself anymore and say she didn't understand the sort of feelings that Juliet held for Romeo. James had become as much Romeo as she had become Juliet, and as the play had written, the pair was star-crossed. Fate – in the complete cliché. _Romeo and Juliet_ was Shakespeare's way of making fun of the idea that fate could take two completely opposite people and make them fall in love.

But, perhaps it wasn't so far-fetched?

She wouldn't admit that she loved James, couldn't admit it, but obviously distain had been forgotten in the past few days. Maybe that was part of the joke, it had taken less than a week and Lily had kissed him twice. It had taken her six years to hate him but days to kiss him.

As she withdrew the vial from the small pouch she had to remind herself to take steadying breaths. Nerves were the enemy here, not the potion.

"Goodbye." She dismissed this dimension, uncorking the vial with a pop. She sighed, trying to rid of her nerves once more. "Merlin, I shouldn't be so nervous." She reminded herself softly. "But what if it doesn't work? Will I marry Paris, the giant prat that he is? How do we know that we even used the right potion? There was no ingredients list, no instructions and no real text. For all we know this could be poison in my hand." A characteristic of Lily had always been to ramble, and in dire circumstances she held monologues for an audience of herself. "It shouldn't be poison, James and I knew what we were doing."

At last she brought the vial to her lips, "James, I'm drinking this for you." It was as though she expected her words to reach his ears wherever he was. "Hopefully I shall wake to find us both back at Hogwarts."

She tipped the liquid into her mouth, only the smallest of tastes, but within an instant her body fell still.

----------------------------------------

This was the third time this week that James had woken up in a bed that was not his. The first had been the day that he had found that his life had taken a turn that he would never have thought of. It was the day that he had literally become Romeo Montague and found the girl that would become his Juliet.

The second time he had found himself in an unfamiliar bed actually dealt with her, with Juliet, with Lily. It was bizarre to think that they had become so close, that he had kissed her twice and spent the night beside her. He couldn't sleep at all while she lay beside him. She was the epitome of everything that he loved about her at that moment. Every so often she would shift in her sleep and eventually she came to use his shoulder as a pillow, a move that sent his heart into rapid palpitations.

And the third time was now; he had woken up in a make-shift bed, a bed that he had to assemble himself in the middle of yet another fictional place. Mantua, the place where his banishment had led him. He couldn't even say that he hadn't deserved the banishment, for he had, but it was the fact that he was far enough away from Lily not to know whether the potion had worked or not that was driving him mad.

Spotting what he later learned was a serving boy for the Montagues; he rose excitedly from the bed and greeted the boy in a rush. "Do you have any news from Verona?" Anything would be welcomed at this point, a note of apology from Lily explaining how the potion hadn't worked, a letter of apology from the friar saying the same, or a letter from Friar Lawrence that Lily had returned to their own time and now all that was left was for him follow her.

"I cannot bear to tell you the truth, sir, so all is well and nothing is wrong." The serving boy poised his gaze at the floor and James was growing exasperated. Could nobody in this dimension just come out and say what it is that they were going to say? "Juliet sleeps in the Capulet tomb. Pardon me, sir, for having to be the bearer of bad news."

It was impossible for James to believe what the boy said, but wasn't it one of Lily's fears? That this potion could actually kill them and not transport them home? If this boy was the only source of news he had, then he had no choice but to travel to Verona himself and see if it were true.

"See if you can get some horses or something for me to travel to Verona, okay?" James demanded of the boy.

"Have patience," the younger boy advised. "You look all pale and wild like as though you're going to try and hurt yourself." Great, now it appeared the James's mother was making a cameo in this dimension.

"Just go and do what I've asked you, please. You don't have a letter from the friar or anyone for me?" He asked just in case, it didn't make any sense for him to rush off now if there was no hurry. Perhaps someone had left some sort of instructions for him and he simply had to remind the serving boy of it.

"No, my lord." The serving boy looked confused at the question and once more James dismissed him easily.

The desire to return to Verona had peaked with the absence of news. Today was the day that Shakespearian Italy faced Juliet's death and James was praying that it was not the death of Lily Evans that he was facing. Of course, his own doubt was hardly convincing, there were too many variables. There was too much unknown information about the potion and sometimes he even questioned how honorable Friar Lawrence really was. Of course the latter was probably due to paranoia.

"Okay then." James said dismissing his thoughts. "Why are you still standing here? I asked you to fetch me a horse or something." He inquired of the boy. Really, hadn't he asked him about a thousand times to go now, or was it simply his nerves filling his mind with all of these thoughts?

He didn't even know why he was nervous; it wasn't as though he didn't know what was going to happen. But that was the thing; he didn't really know what was going to happen. Would he find Lily's body at the Capulet tomb? Or would he find that she had returned home, leaving the vial for him to use as well? He didn't know, that was the worst part. There was no way to know other than to return to Verona and begin a search.

He was beginning to feel stupid.

No, he had been feeling stupid from the moment he had met the too tight trousers and flowing shirt, the feeling had just been multiplied now. He needed to stop worrying; he needed to pluck up some courage.

However, by the time that he had arrived at the tomb any courage he may have mustered disintegrated. He didn't even know why he was here, common sense told him to go to Lily's room and grab the vial from whatever place she had stored it. That posed another problem, where would she have put it? Would Nurse have found it and disposed of it? Lily couldn't be that careless, could she?

He entered the tomb to find that in the front of the room there lay a stone casket. It was sealed shut and he knew that if he were to open it and find Lily's body, she would no longer be alive. You couldn't survive between slabs of concrete, not even James's delusions could grant him that. He scanned the room for some sort of lever, something that would aid him in opening the casket. He needed to know for certain that Lily was alright, that she had not been poisoned.

In his search he managed to overlook a figure in the shadows, the figure of Lily's intended groom.

"You're an arrogant one, Montague." Paris sneered at him, stepping out of the shadows. "Were you not banished from this city? You are a condemned villain and I have caught you. You must obey me, come. I will not tolerate you seeking revenge on corpses. You must die now."

"I must indeed," James agreed. For it was true, if Lily's body lay within her coffin, he would surely die. Be it physically or just within his heart. He was not certain that his heart would remember how to beat if he were to find Lily's lifeless body lying before him. "That's why I'm here, actually. Go away, you do not need to be here." If the casket were empty, James was not prepared to face the questions that would undoubtedly come.

"I refuse. I am arresting you." Paris informed him stubbornly. James shook his head, never again could anyone say that he was the most stubborn person alive for this boy had him beaten.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I must." It was a fair warning, much more than Paris had shown that he deserved.

Paris showed no signs of letting down, especially as he withdrew his sword from the hilt at his side. Growing far too tired of such games, James withdrew his own weapon, one that he had not been given the opportunity to use in a while. Having his wand in his hand was comforting. He petrified the insolent boy, refusing to mar his hands with another murder.

Sufficiently, the words "They fight. Paris falls" still seemed to fit.

Having that out of the way he had nothing left but to open the tomb and discover whether or not Lily lay inside. He borrowed Paris's sword, finding nothing else to work as a makeshift crowbar.

He hesitated as he slid the sword in the crack between the stone. He didn't know whether or not the sword would break from the pressure of the stone but that was hardly of any concern. This was the unveiling. And above all, this was the climax of the play and the deciding factor for James's next move.

The stone slab moved slowing, causing James's heart to beat in his throat and he felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't even watch as the gap grew larger and his eyes remained closed as a heavy thud sounded against the marble floors. With a deep and shaky breath he opened his eyes and peered into the coffin.

It was empty.

It was empty! Lily's body did not lie in the casket, she wasn't dead. But the question was now where had the body gone? Was she home? An excited smile spread across James's lips. He looked at the empty casket one last time to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him and as if to mock him for his lack of faith there laid the glass vial. The vial itself was sitting there innocently, nearly half of the potion missing from its container.

He picked it up cautiously and uncorked it. The liquid didn't look nearly as daunting now as it had the night that he and Lily watched it all shatter against the stone floors of her bedroom. He swilled it around watching it for a moment before finishing off the vial in one swift movement.

And just like that, he was gone, never realizing that he had never received what could have been one of the most important letters he had ever gotten.


	11. Chapter 11

**BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY**  
**By: geekinthepink**  
**Rating: T**  
**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.**

**Notes: This is not my favorite chapter but it's so hard for me to write an ending that I think I'll be happy with. This is the closest that I could come. I'm sorry it took so long to get it out. **

**Chapter Eleven: The End  
Also Known As: Both Alike In Dignity**

How long had it been? Weeks? Months? A year? The latter seemed impossible but perhaps time between dimensions didn't matter. Lily was terrified to open her eyes and see where her body lay. Would she still be between the stone slabs of the tomb, would she find herself in Juliet's bed or would it be somewhere else entirely? She wiggled a little in her spot, clamping her eyes tightly shut. It certainly wasn't stone beneath her.

Bracing herself for her own personal unveiling she allowed one eye to flutter open, followed by the other. Her eyes adjusted to the light filtering in through the windows and she slowly sat up in bed, recognizing this place immediately. It was neither the Capulet home nor her own bed in Gryffindor tower. It was the hospital wing.

Her hand darted to her head to check for bandages, a fever or some sort of wound but she found nothing. She looked down at her own body and checked for all of the customary appendages. All ten fingers, all ten toes, two arms, two legs. They were all accounted for. She had a head, two eyes, a nose and lips. Lips that at the brush of her fingers recalled exactly what she had been missing during her slumber and her fears.

James.

She looked around the hospital wing for another body lying beneath the sheets of a bed and to her dismay, found nothing. She was about to give up hope completely, succumbing to the panic that threatened to hit her when she spotted a bed at the far side of the wing whose curtains were drawn. Maybe James had come back after all.

She rose from the bed, abandoning the starched sheets and placing her feet on the cold tiles. She let out a hiss of discomfort and tried to dart across the stone floors before the coldness could seep too deeply into her skin but it was like her feet had forgotten how to walk. She stumbled with her first couple of steps, gripping on to the footrest of the nearest bed so she wouldn't loose her ground. Perhaps she had been lying here longer than she initially thought.

Discovering the pattern of one foot followed by the other, she managed to make it across the room in a hurried pace, racing against the cold that had now reached her arms, drawing out goose pimples across her pale skin. She slowly pulled back the curtains on the bed, careful not to disturb the boy sleeping inside. At least, she assumed he would be sleeping.

She was right.

His glasses were on the bedside table and his hair was just as much of a mess as it had ever been. He didn't appear to have gone through any life changing torment in her absence in Verona. She watched him sleep for a few minutes, content with the fact that they were both safe and both home. He shifted in his sleep, turning away from her gaze subserviently.

His body appeared not to have found comfort in his new position as he shifted back to his original position before abandoning it all together and allowing a large sigh to pass his lips. Lily smiled at how fidgety he was, even in his sleep. His eyes opened slowly, in the same manner as her own had. He looked around for the source of his discomfort and spotted a blurred mess of red amidst the otherwise white room.

She handed him his glasses and once they were back in their familiar place resting on top of the bridge of his nose, James could identify the red blob with much certainty. At first he thought that perhaps it was someone else with that unique color of hair, or even someone with a grossly colored outfit, but he had hoped that it would be Lily, and now that he realized that she was sitting in front of him he wanted nothing more than to fling himself out of the hospital bed and wrap his limbs around her body.

"You're not dead," he pointed out needlessly.

Lily shook her head, "No such luck, Potter."

He frowned at the use of his surname but at the appearance of a smile tugging at her lips he found himself unable to believe that she had forgotten everything. He certainly hadn't.

"So, do you…" she trailed off for a second, fearing that she'd just sound ridiculous, "You remember everything, don't you?"

He grinned happily at her question before nodding his head slowly, "Everything."

"How long have we been gone, do you think?"

"I don't know," James shrugged. "A couple of days? A week at the most." But in all honesty, he didn't know. Time had escaped them both. For all they knew the rest of their class could have already graduated and they were lingering behind like a pair of forgotten socks.

Lily could only nod at his estimate of time, feeling now as though she wanted to be captured within his arms feeling what it would be like to be blanketed around him once more. She hadn't been able to feel that since they had left that Shakespearian hellhole and she wondered if things would be the same here or if things would go back to the way that they were before. She didn't think that she could handle that -- no, she knew that she couldn't, it would crush her, partly because, until now, she hadn't realized how vital James Potter was to her happiness. She hated saying that, it was utterly absurd, but she couldn't help but think it. Thinking a thought couldn't possibly be harmful.

But she was wrong, as always it seemed.

"What are you thinking?" The soft tones of James's voice asked, breaking the fragile barriers of her thoughts.

"Nothing," she said automatically, shaking her head also softly. It didn't seem like the time to speak or even think above a whisper. Perhaps that had a lot to do with the fact that they were in the hospital wing still.

"How can you think about nothing?" He asked in response and Lily had to admit that the boy made a strong argument, but she wasn't up to the battle.

"I was thinking about what happened." She justified as though she had answered that simply before. "And wondering if things have changed." By not giving specifics she hoped that he would be able to understand what she was talking about without her having to say it. Somehow she didn't think the words 'Are we allowed to snog now?' would go over fantastically well. Actually, she knew they would, but she wasn't in the mood for raucous yelling.

"Probably not," James told her simply. "It's only been a week. We probably just have some notes and gossip to catch up on or something." He didn't seem to want to bring up their relationship now either.

Was it even a relationship? They were both starting to hope so.

"Right," she nodded, the red of her hair startling against the crisp whiteness of the hospital gown. "But…" she trailed off, unable to bring herself to say the words.

"But?" he prompted.

"What about the other things? What about… you and I?" It was the most painful sentence she had ever had to utter.

James grinned broadly and she wished she could take back her questioning just to wipe the smirk off of his face. "Well, I believe that after that whole romance thing we had to go through, there's nothing more to do than see if romantic tragedies can exist at Hogwarts."

"Tragedy?" She questioned, offence lining her tone. If she knew where her wand was she probably would have pulled it out and used it to forcefully poke him, or hex him, or something.

"Lily, it's you and I, there's bound to be bloodshed at some point." And once more, he made a good point.

Their fights was something that she had grown to, dare she think it, love about him. It was so much easier to feel comfortable with him knowing that things hadn't changed. She still had ample amounts of ammunition to throw at him when he decided to be a pompous prat and he could still call her a wet blanket. But as long as they were fighting, there showed that there was still enough passion between them for their relationship to thrive.

It was absolutely ridiculous and hardly made any sense, but Lily loved it.

"So… I guess this means that I'll go out with you."

Those words were the ones that James had been waiting for since he was fifteen years old and hearing them now was better than he could have expected. He leaned over and caught her lips in his own softly, feeling that nothing between them had changed since that night that they had poured themselves over ancient books and dozens of leaves. Sceneries may have changed, circumstances may have changed, but they hadn't.

Just as they had broken apart, the door to the hospital wing was thrust open. The school mediwitch walked in at her rather curt pace with Dumbledore trailing not too far behind her. She smiled at the two teenagers as a way of letting them know not only that they were completely busted for kissing, but also that she was glad to see them both awake. It was sort of hard to interpret things that different, however.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, I'm pleased to see that you're both fully conscious." Dumbledore said, smiling at the pair in the same manner as the mediwitch which caused Lily's cheeks to flush red.

"Thank you, sir." James replied almost smugly.

"Now, could one of you please explain to me what happened in the common room this evening?" The elder man's words caused Lily's attention to snap to the boy beside her.

"This evening?" She questioned curiously. Had it just been hours that they had been gone from school while it had been days in Verona?

"Yes, in the common room. Your friends said that Mr. Potter and yourself got into yet another heated argument, some spells were thrown and both of you were knocked out onto the floor." Dumbledore seemed to think nothing of the fact that both of the teenagers were looking at him as though he had missed a punch line to a joke.

"Yes, that's true." James agreed with him. "Except for that last part –" He would have gone on to explain but Lily dug her knee rather forcefully into the side of his leg.

"It was just me throwing the spells, sir. Thankfully a book deflected my hex from hitting James, otherwise things would have been a lot worse, I'm sure." Lily didn't think that it was necessary to tell the Headmaster all of their exploits inside of a play. It was hard for her to digest and she had been there.

"Much worse indeed. We moved you both to the hospital wing because we weren't sure when you would awake and we couldn't be sure of the damage done to your bodies until then. You both appear to be fine, however, so you mustn't worry. That must have been some book, Miss Evans."

Lily nodded once more, "Some book indeed."

The Headmaster smiled once again and nodded. "You are both free to go. Goodnight Miss Evans, Mr. Potter." He walked away from the two, stopping when he reached the heavy wooden doors. "And if you're curious to know, I much prefer this version of the story."

Before either Lily or James could ask what he meant, the man was gone and James began to laugh.

"I don't know how he always seems to know everything." There was a slight rueful tone to James's voice and Lily was certain that he was somehow alluding to the many detentions that he had been handed during his course of schooling here.

"I have to agree though," Lily interjected. "I like this version of the story better too."

"Me too," a smile crossed his lips as he kissed Lily once more. "Two households in Verona… Both alike in dignity." He muttered softly in between kisses.


End file.
